Recruitment Process Starts Now
by Udinovian
Summary: Ryleigh had a mission, which went south when she got discovered by the woman she had to look out for the most. Now she's running down the streets trying to shake her off. OC & the whole Nikita team, mostly Nikita and Alex. Rated T for violence just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok guys, this is the first story I've written so far therefore I know there are a ton of flaws. Feedback would be very welcome, just let me now what you think :) (English is not my native language by the way)  
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**It's set during early season 3, with the new Division up and running, hunting down the Dirty 30.**

Chapter 1: Fresh Meat

It never ceased to amaze her how fast she could actually run. She had always been the dreamy one, staring out the window thinking about every little thing in life except the thing she should be concentrating on. Parents, teachers, they'd always have to snap her back into reality. But if she focused, she could do much more than people would ever expect.

While jumping over a garbage bin, she accidentally knocked it over, which slowed down her pursuer. Run, run, faster. Whoever this woman was, she couldn't afford to get caught by her. Although Ryleigh was confident of her speed she wasn't gonna outrun her on that power alone, this woman was dedicated. She had been chasing her for ten minutes now on foot. She turned around the corner, crossed the street, she even did the slide on the hood of a car so she wouldn't get crushed in between, then went straight into another alley; it was a good thing she was familiar with the neighborhood. After she leaped over a fence she turned around to check whether the woman was still chasing her. And she was, because she had followed her move and had now drawn her gun.

"Stop! I don't wanna hurt you!" She said while pointing her gun at her.

Ryleigh had recognized her immediately, but it seemed wiser not to show that discovery, that would only make things more difficult. She was told about her and had to report back immediately if she would see or hear anything of her. She wondered what all the fuss was about.

"Don't wanna hurt me? It sure looks like it, doesn't it?" Ryleigh replied. Why did people always say they didn't want to hurt you when that is exactly what they are planning to do. Vivid images from her past flashed in front of her and she had to close her eyes for a second.

"I really don't. I can see you've been hurt already, I can help you. Just tell me who put you up to this."

For a moment, she was thrown off guard by her kindness, but quickly she restrained. She had to find a way out of here, because there was no way she was gonna tell her who she was working for. She really didn't feel like dying today. Just play along, she thought.

"I will, if you tell me who you are working for." Maybe she could distract her long enough to reach for her own gun. To Ryleigh's surprise, the woman answered her question.

"I'm Nikita, and I'm with Division.. the new kind to be exact. Whatever kind of trouble you're in, we can help you. Just trust me and come with me."

She observed Nikita; for starters she was not that tall, Ryleigh had at least the same height as her, she was wearing a black leather jacket and her hair tied in a ponytail. She looked determined, ready to face any kind of situation. There was also a certain honesty in her eyes.

"The new kind huh, well.. I guess I would prefer the old one." She didn't like the way the woman looked at her, almost with some sort of pity, although maybe she was just imagining things.

Meanwhile, she had slowly almost reached her gun. If she did this right, she could move as quick as she could behind the garbage bin next to her and then head to the crowded street.

"I really wanted this to go differently," Nikita said and just as Ryleigh grabbed her gun and was gonna make a move towards her safety bin, she felt the most excruciating pain. Immediately she dropped to the ground, screaming. As she tried to locate what caused it, she looked at her left leg, which was covered in blood.

"Michael, I need you to get the car to my location." She heard Nikita say.

"Oh you're gonna pay for this!," Ryleigh said furiously, "Arghh god damn it!" Nikita ignored her little tirade while she ripped off the sleeve of her vest and strapped it firmly around Ryleigh's leg, who went from anger to confusion. From what she was told it always seemed that Nikita was the devil herself. She was gonna get transported to an unknown place and Ryleigh was seriously starting to panic. She never thought things were gonna turn out this way, hell she didn't even think there would be any trouble.

"Don't move, you're gonna be fine." Nikita said to her and gave her a quick smile, though her face went immediately back to a frown as she said to the person on the other line: "Hurry Michael, the girl needs medical help."

Ryleigh wasn't even able to respond anymore. Before she closed her eyes, all she noticed was a hand holding hers.


	2. Chapter 2: Unknown Purposes

**So here's the second chapter, thanks to Ayushi95 for the support ;D  
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Chapter 2: Unknown Purposes

An elevator, an old barn, and several people engaged in a heated discussion were the things that flashed before her when she woke up. A sudden realization came over her, she was awake. That would mean she was still alive! Why wasn't she killed already, what was she doing here? Where was here exactly? She tried to look around, her head felt like it weighed a ton. She couldn't quite place the room she was in, it looked medical, but it wasn't a hospital. There was a drip-feed attached to her. When she looked at her arm where the needle was invading her body, she got a little uneasy. Then she noticed her hands were strapped to the bed. She really started to panic now and was trying to find a way out of there when someone stepped in the room.

"Oh good, you're awake. Sorry about that, but we can't exactly have you walking around here. There is still a little trust issue." Nikita said as she checked the infusion. "How are you feeling?"

Ryleigh remembered. Her prepping for her mission, getting noticed by Nikita, the chase, the shot. She remembered it all and the overload of questions and feelings that went through her mind got her stupefied. She couldn't utter a single word.

Nikita saw nothing but complete confusion in the girls eyes and she realized that it probably didn't make a lot of sense. The girl must have rationalized that the most plausible situation would be that of torture to gain information.

I'm gonna get tortured, was the only logical thought Ryleigh had come up with. They just helped me so that they could use me in a later stadium. Damn, being nice and caring was just an act of this Nikita to get what she wanted. Ryleigh was a loyal person, but as she was overthinking her options she came to the conclusion that she wouldn't give her life to protect her employer. Their bond wasn't placed on mutual respect or love, it was just an agreement. Yet she couldn't help but feel guilty if she'd betray this person.

To put her out of her misery, Nikita started talking: "Listen. First of all, we won't hurt you.. okay except for your leg, but that was just.. collateral damage, I'm sorry. We are not the bad guys here, we're the ones who are trying to fight the evil in the world. Now I know what you did back there wasn't a solo action, you had your orders. But how did a young girl like you end up in such a place?" Nikita genuinely wondered.

"I.. " Ryleigh started, but didn't know what to say exactly. Was she gonna trust her completely and tell the whole story? Nikita looked at her, patiently waiting for her to talk, with a slight frown.

"You promise?" Ryleigh asked. She felt like a child asking such a foolish question, but she needed the confirmation.

"What do you.." Nikita began, but quickly she realized. Touched by the look on her face, she looked deeply in the eyes of the girl and spoke with full devotion: "I promise you, I promise you no harm will come to you, not on my watch. As I once told someone else I know; this is a safe place."

If this was all an act, she sure did a great deal to sell it. Ryleigh was convinced by the words she spoke and was relieved that a large amount of fear was taken away. She smiled to Nikita and felt that a bond of trust had been established between them. She was still on her guard, but how could she not. She still didn't know where she was. There were some questions needed to be answered.

"Can I ask a question?" Ryleigh asked softly.

"I believe you still owe me an answer, but alright. Ask away." Nikita said good-tempered as she shifted on her stool.

"Well.. where am I?"

One question turned into many and Nikita tried to answer them the best way possible. Ryleigh listened attentively and was amazed by this organization and how they dealt with everything. Nikita still wanted her questions answered, she needed to know with who she was dealing with, whether there were gonna be people looking for her.

As the enlightenment came to a close, Nikita got serious. "Ryleigh, you gotta tell me what happened to you. How were you involved in what went down earlier?

Ryleigh knew this was coming. Nikita wasn't going to tell her all about her dealings and not expect some information in return. She got reminded in what kind of crazy situation she was actually in and she didn't how to handle it. She had to report back to her employer, she had to, or else..

Panic overwhelmed her. She started to breathe heavily. "I've gotta get out of here. Let me out of here! What.. dammit.. untie me!"

"Hey hey hey! Shh relax, no one's gonna hurt you alright?" Nikita didn't know why she freaked out all of a sudden, she thought everything was under control. Clearly there was more to it.

"I don't care! Someone else is gonna get hurt if you don't, let, me, out!" With every word she spoke Ryleigh unsuccessfully tried to fight her way out of the straps.

Nikita, now worried too, tried to get a grip on the situation: "Okay then tell me what's going on Ryleigh, I don't know what you're dealing with right now so I can't help you. And there's no way I'm sending you back out there like this alone. Please, let me help you."

Nikita looked up when she appeared in the doorway. "What the hell is going on in here?" Alex said.

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**Maybe there was too much explaining stuff, but it needed to be done.. Please, tell what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Better Do A Background Check

**Chapter 3! I tried to make it longer, I know it's still on the short side, but there's an upward trend in words each chapter so :) There's still lots of talky-time, but I plan to have other chapters more action-packed. Enjoy! and review if you feel like being awesome today  
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Chapter 3: Better Do A Background Check

"Is she alright?" Alex continued when both of them didn't really respond to her previous question.

"Yea.. yea, we're good, I mean.." Nikita looked at Ryleigh, who was still upset, but wasn't trying to break out of her straps, it obviously didn't have much effect. She wondered if she should include Alex to all of it. If there was gonna be a plan to help her, the whole team would get involved eventually. And she figured the kid could relate to Alex, who was once herself a young distraught girl.

"Ryleigh, I'm gonna remove your straps, now you promise me you'll stay calm alright?"

Ryleigh nodded yet her eyes were still moving restlessly, giving Alex a quick glance. It didn't go unnoticed by Nikita.

"This is Alex. I trust her with my life and so can you." Nikita untied her and Ryleigh rubbed her wrists, which were slightly red from all her twitching and turning. Alex came standing a little closer and gave Ryleigh a reassuring smile.

"Now you," Nikita said, turning her head towards Ryleigh, "are gonna tell me exactly what is going on. Then with all the resources we have, we'll try and help you. You said someone else would get hurt.. how?"

Ryleigh completely set aside all her doubts about this place and the people in it and figured this was her best way out to fix what happened. She looked in Nikita's eyes and then looked down.

"I guess.. It starts with a few years ago, when I was fourteen years old. I was living with my parents and my five year older brother in a small city, never had much trouble. Until the 21st of November ..I remember well, because it was just three days before my mom's birthday. She was out, so we all took our time to figure out what to give her. I myself was mapping out a trip to Sicily we were gonna take together. Stupid really, because we didn't even have that kind of money. Then there was knock on the door, a policeman told us our mother had a car accident …and that she had died.

Ryleigh had an ice cold expression and Nikita and Alex looked at each other in dismay.

"From then on, my brother was changed. He got stuck in a downward spiral and didn't talk to anyone. We used to be really close, but.. we just shut each other out just when we needed it the most. I don't know exactly how it went down, but he was in with some bad crowd, drugs and all. One day, he got into an argument with another boy, they were both drunk, things got heated and.. he shot him. That kid didn't survive and my brother got thrown in jail, death row."

Again, Nikita and Alex exchanged looks, they both thought the same thing for a second. Ryleigh didn't even notice, this was the first time in years that she spoke about it. It was a really odd feeling reliving it all, but at the same time a sort of therapeutic.

"So after.. all of this I only had my father left, who was the kind of man that kept to myself, not helping. I was following my brother's footsteps in terms of uh.. coping, but I managed to keep it together.. sort of."

Ryleigh frowned at that, then sighed and there was a moment of silence. Nikita took the moment to sympathize with her.

"Ryleigh.. I'm so sorry. For everything that's happened to you, you had to endure way too much at such an age. I can't even.. imagine. But you know.. I see it in your eyes.. you're strong, so very strong. You've held on till now and I'll make sure that you are able to keep doing that. I'm gonna help you."

Ryleigh listened to Nikita and was moved by her words. All she used to receive back then were the usual 'I'm sorry for your loss' and 'my condolences'. Even the few friends and family didn't know where to begin.

And then she looked at Alex, who had one silent tear streaming down her face.

"Oh!" Ryleigh's face turned into astonishment and pity, this was not at all the effect she wanted to cause. Maybe she said something really wrong, maybe Alex had experienced a similar situation and was now confronted with them. Or not. Either way she wanted to help but didn't quite know how, she was so terrible at handling these kinds of things.

"Alex.." Nikita said softly.

"I'm sorry, I just..um.. I gotta.." Alex stuttered. She clenched her jaws together and swallowed after which she suddenly walked out of the room.

"Wait here, please, this'll only be a minute" Nikita said while she already stood up and walked in the same direction Alex did. She was just around the corner, sitting on the ground leaning against the wall with her legs curled up to her chest, gazing out in front of her.

"Hey, talk to me, what was that all about?" Nikita said as she placed herself next to her.

"Nothing."

"Come on Alex, don't do this."

"No seriously, nothing!" Alex sort of laughed at herself, gave Nikita a quick look and then went back to her gazing mode. "The last couple of weeks it's just, I feel weak. Every little thing gets a hold of me and it's like I don't have any control over it. Just over a week ago, we saved Liza, who was so troubled by other people, and now this girl. I can't.. I just wish they would all had normal lives."

Nikita got reminded again that Alex was just like them. Just a normal girl who got caught up in this crazy rollercoaster of a life that she didn't deserve. And it was because of her.

Nikita took Alex' hand and held it tightly. "I know, it's not fair. Some get to live who deserve it the least, others have to live their life through horrific circumstances yet they stay the most kind-hearted people you can come across." Nikita smiled at Alex. "And right now, I believe we got ourselves a case like that again and we have the chance to do something about it."

"You sure are on a roll today with your pep talks." Alex grinned at Nikita and they gave each other a long needed hug.

"I'm wondering what it is that she's gotten herself into, has she said anything to you?" Alex asked.

"No, she made sure she didn't speak a word about it, at least till now.. but I'm thinking it's something drug related, poor girl, you noticed the slight track marks?"

As Ryleigh sat alone on her bed, thinking about what to tell them next, she couldn't help but feel it would be all for nothing. She noticed that each day she doubted the agreement more and more and she could just punch herself right now for holding on to hope for so long. She felt sorry for Nikita and Alex that they had to listen to her and deal with her problems, they had nothing to do with and it didn't even matter. They came in.

"Look I'm sorry about the whole situation in the streets," Ryleigh was already getting up and searching for her clothes, but couldn't really find them so she kind of ended up talking to the ground while still turning her head in every direction, "and I'm sorry you felt the need to help me, but I'll just leave you be now and-"

"Wow wow wow hold up, what's this about? You know you're safe here right?" Nikita said.

"Yeah I know, I just.. um I was stupid to.." Forgetting all about her injury, she fell down on the ground when she leaned on her left leg. As if this little thing caused the breaking of a dam, everything that has happened came crushing down on her and she simply broke down in tears.


	4. Chapter 4: Confiscated Property

**Sorry it may took some time to update it, and it also won't be updated for two weeks, because I'm going on a holiday and will have zero internet acces. But after that I'm gonna post chapter 5 extra fast! Thanks for reading!  
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Chapter 4: Confiscated Property

Alex rushed to her in an instant and wrapped her arms around the girl.

"Shh hey it's alright, come on, let's get you up." Alex comforted her as she tried to get Ryleigh to lean on her.

"My brother's dead..!" Ryleigh cried in disbelief.

"I know, I know." Alex hushed while tears welled up in her eyes. She realized that getting her back up was not that great a concern so she just held her.

"No.. I still.. I still believed he was alive.. but he's gone, he's just gone." Ryleigh shook her head and then she let it rest against Alex' chest. Alex looked at Nikita, who had her hand in front of her mouth but lowered it when she understood what she wanted to say. Nikita mouthed a firm 'no', but Alex chose to put that advice aside.

"Ryleigh, what made you hold on to hope?" Alex asked.

"Alex, don't!" Nikita said.

"She at least deserves to know about it, Nikita!".

"I.. what does it matter?" Ryleigh replied, lifting up her head, confused by the sudden argument between them.

"Because I know that there's still one small chance that he didn't die."

Ryleigh looked at her, baffled: "That's exactly what she said. The exact same words.. what is this, are you all working together or something?!" She withdrew herself from Alex' arms and looked nervously from Alex to Nikita and back.

"Ryleigh, I don't understand. We don't-" Nikita suddenly fell silent. Then she continued cautiously. "She. The woman you are talking about. What's her name?"

They all heard footsteps coming near the medical room, they were those of Michael. He had the most confused expression on his face when he observed the scene in front of him, but apparently there were more urgent situations that needed to be dealt with, because he turned to Nikita and said: "We have an incoming call, it's Amanda."

Ryleigh looked up shocked and Nikita was now absolutely sure about her hunch and she was just raging with anger on the inside. Whatever Amanda did to her or told her, she was gonna make her pay. For this, but also for everything that has happened to her and the others. Without saying a word she walked out and went straight to Ops. Apparently Amanda didn't want to intimidate everyone at Division, because then she would just let herself appear on the big screen, but wanted to talk to the small group that she knew so well. Nikita walked up the stairs to the Ops conference room where Ryan and Birkhoff were waiting.

"Put her on." Nikita demanded.

"You sure, don't wanna wait for Mikey and Alex?" Birkhoff asked slightly surprised.

"I'm right here, buddy." Michael said. He had followed Nikita almost instantly after she walked away. He had a feeling that she knew more about this than he did and she got him worried by the way she was acting. After all, it was Amanda, who unfortunately had the ability to get inside everyone's head if she wanted to.

"Put her on, Birkhoff." She repeated

Figuring it'd be wiser if he didn't ask any more questions, Birkhoff worked his magic and Amanda appeared on screen. It had been a while since they had seen her and Nikita observed her, as Amanda did the same with her.

"You look good, Nikita. You're just glowing, is it because of the recent engagement?" Amanda smiled.

Nikita narrowed her eyes, she wasn't gonna let Amanda get to her. It actually didn't surprise her that she knew about that, she was probably keeping an eye on them wherever she could.

"Get to the point, Amanda."

"As you wish." Amanda's expression turned stone cold when she proceeded talking. "I believe you have something of mine.. you thought it was yours to keep?"

The way Amanda talked about Ryleigh as an object had her agitated.

Meanwhile, Alex and Ryleigh were the only ones left in the room. Alex, trying to put together all the pieces to the puzzle, came to the same conclusion Nikita did, but was also still thinking about Ryleigh's brother. She wanted to check first, but she couldn't just leave her all alone here with nothing but fear and doubts.

"Ryleigh, listen to me. I don't know in what kind of way you are connected to Amanda, but you need to realize that everything she does is for the benefit of her own. She'll say anything to get what she wants."

"So you're a liar too then?"

Alex, confused at first, quickly got what she was trying to say. She sighed.

"I know you feel like you can't trust anyone right now, so I promise you, I'm gonna be nothing but honest to you and I'll forever tell you the truth. I was serious about what I said earlier, I do know where your brother might be, but I can't guarantee it."

Ryleigh had so many questions to ask. What was their connection to Amanda? What were they doing right now, somewhere in this complex? But there was another question that made all those other ones seem irrelevant and she had a chance at finding the answer. In Alex' eyes she saw nothing but sincerity.

"Thank you."

Alex looked at her doubtfully.

"And I understand the terms." Ryleigh managed to give Alex a smile that said she knew it was a small chance.

"Come on then." Alex said and she handed the crutches that were in the corner to Ryleigh.

"Oh I wouldn't dare. Sadly, I have no idea what you're talking about." Nikita said.

"Alright, Nikita, we'll play it your way then. Just know that there's always a consequence to every action, I thought you had learned that by now?" Amanda said and then she was gone.

"Ok, Birkhoff, did you try tracking her down?" Nikita said, ignoring Michael looking at her with his arms crossed.

"Yeah.. I did. She must have recruited some new supertech buddies, because I wasn't able to get the exact location. But, ShadowNet being ShadowNet, it didn't come up empty handed. Due to my recent update, I did find the area she's in; Green County, New York." Birkhoff informed her.

"That is not that far from here.. why would she station herself so close to us?" Nikita asked, more to herself than to the others.

"Nikita, can I just.. interrupt here for a second.. what the hell are you doing?" Michael asked her. "We don't know what kind of resources Amanda can get to, we don't know what she can do. Why provoke her like that?"

"I just needed to know where she's hiding out, so I can put a bullet in her head." Nikita replied.

Alex and Ryleigh entered Ops. Alex told her that she wanted her to meet the team first, if that was alright with her. This was the first time Ryleigh had seen a different space in Division other than the medical room and she was looking her eyes out, everything was so slick. Then they went up the few steps where several people were talking to each other, including Nikita and she felt that she was glad to see her again even though it had only been a couple of minutes.

Everyone went silent when they stepped in. Ryan was the first to talk as he decided to welcome the girl.

"You must be Ryleigh, right? I'm Ryan, chief of this.. organization." He held out a hand.

"Yes. Nice to meet you.. um sir." Ryleigh really didn't know how to address them, from what Nikita told her, there were a lot of criminals among them, but she said they were good people, so it felt rude to act any different because of their background.

Nikita laughed endearingly and it broke the tension. "You can just call him Ryan."

Next was Michael, who didn't seem like much of a talker, but could be depended on. And then Birkhoff, who she immediately liked, because of his light-heartedness in a place where everything seemed to be a life and death situation.

"Well.. I really don't wanna put you in a bad place or judge you, but you've seemed to have caused quite some problems here that need to be dealt with. As in now." Ryan said.


	5. Chapter 5: Tremble

**So I'm back and I've got a new chapter! I hope you guys like it, and sorry for the delay!  
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Chapter 5: Tremble

"I know, but we need to clear something up right now." Alex said firmly. "I made a promise to Ryleigh, about her brother." She looked at Ryleigh while she continued speaking. "Because there's a chance that he might be here."

"What.." Ryleigh uttered. Her brain was working on full speed and then she remembered something Nikita said. That the people in here were taken from prison, when they had no chances of getting out and Division was their only salvation. Why didn't she made the link before? This was something Alex instantly thought of, Nikita probably too, hell, everyone would, except her. She was filled with the feeling of utter stupidity.

Alex watched Ryleigh's face change expression. It went from shock to confusion, to realization and astonishment. As she witnessed the emotion, she got scared. This was what Nikita was trying to stop her from, giving someone false hope. She was so eager to help and it felt just to let her know, but what if it was all for nothing?

"Of course.. how can we find out for sure?" Ryleigh asked Alex, grateful for finally getting some answers. This was probably what Amanda knew too, but how? That, she still had to ask. Then she looked at the hall next her, where a lot of very concentrated people were working behind a computer, and she tried to recognize a face.

Alex, tormented by the hope she had planted, tried to answer her: "We can look in our database, see if anything comes up.." She gave a nod to Birkhoff.

"What's his name?" Birkhoff asked Ryleigh cautiously.

Ryleigh answered him absentminded: "Jackson, Jackson Kent."

"Like Superman." Birkhoff remarked, and it felt as if he tried to encourage her with his reference.

"Like Superman." She repeated and she couldn't help but smile.

They were all waiting patiently for Birkhoff to come up with the information, but their faces were quickly filled with sorrow when he lifted his head and looked at Ryleigh.

"..He's not here."

This was the outcome that was half-expected by everyone, but it was still an unsatisfying and sad feeling. Alex, stubbornly unaccepting this answer: "Wait! Have you also checked the people that left when they were given the chance? I mean, those records are still in the database right?" Alex said quite desperately for this was the last thing she could do.

"Alex dammit, don't outsmart me girl." Birkhoff said as he tried to look for the files. "Oho I found them.. and there's a Jackson Kent on the list!" He smiled and he turned to Ryeligh. "Nikita told us very quick about your situation.. this means he was still alive a few months ago, Ryleigh."

Everyone was actually quite stunned for a moment and they all awaited Ryleigh's reaction.

"I.. I can't believe it.. all this time.. he was here." Ryleigh stared with big eyes in front of her, trying to take it all in. She inhaled deeply, afraid she wasn't getting enough oxygen. She looked up at the people staring at her. "I don't know what to feel or what to say really, but.. thank you."

"You don't owe us anything." Nikita walked over to her and gave her a hug. One of her crutches fell because she wrapped an arm around Nikita, but that didn't matter, she felt safe in the arms of this woman. Nikita picked it up and said while giving it back to her: "Now, you must understand that we don't know where he is right now. I'm sorry I have to say this, but he could also be.. not alive anymore. You're wondering why he didn't come to you, but my guess is he's hiding out somewhere waiting for the right moment. After all, to the world he doesn't exist."

Ryleigh understood what she was trying to say. Bit-by-bit she had learned the way of things in the world of Division.

"So.. basically, he might be anywhere on earth?"

"Yes." Alex answered. "I'm sorry, I wish we could've given you more." She gave Ryleigh an apologetic look.

"This was already more than I had ever dreamed of, Alex, and you might not believe it, but I really do understand that he could also be gone forever. So you don't have to feel guilty for giving me hope when it isn't there. You gave me hope and you gave me truth."

Nikita smiled. Ryleigh was a smart girl and she was glad that she gave Alex the words that she needed to hear so bad, but at the same time she was annoyed with herself. Of course Alex wanted to help her, even if the chance of success was little, she shouldn't have overreacted like she did. Nikita wanted to just let Alex know, clear the air, but it was made impossible due to another incoming call.

"Guys, Amanda is back." Birkhoff said.

Nikita's head turned straight to Ryleigh. She still didn't what her deal was with Amanda, but it seemed best if they didn't see each other until it was the right time.

"Ryleigh come with me. Alex, can you keep Amanda busy, distract her till I come back?" Nikita said. Alex agreed loyally, but Nikita wasn't all too comfortable with her decision. She knew that also they had a history together and that Amanda had her ways of how to get to Alex. Unfortunately, it was their best option right now.

Nikita and Ryleigh quickly went into Ryan's office.

"So. I need to know how you're connected to Amanda." Nikita said firmly.

Ryleigh, a little thrown off guard by Nikita's change in attitude, was still, despite everything that had happened, not too fond of telling all of this. But she felt like she didn't have much of a choice and apparently there wasn't much time either.

"Amanda and I have.. well, had, I guess.. an agreement in which I would perform several missions for her in exchange for information about my brother, because as I may have let out, she also said that she knew where he might have been." Ryleigh said in one breath.

"Is this all I need to know?" Nikita asked, her brown eyes looking straight into hers.

"Alex can't hold Amanda off for long, I don't know what's going on between you, but you should head back.." Ryleigh said while she tried to walk away. Nikita got a hold of her wrist and Ryleigh turned back to her, looking at the ground.

"Is this all I need to know, Ryleigh?" She spoke again, now with a more worried tone.

"She.. I was in a bad place after my mom and my brother were gone. She found me.. on the streets, I was being harrassed by this guy and I tried to fight him off. I actually managed to do so, but then his buddy showed up. That was also when Amanda and her men came around the corner and they, well.. finished those guys. Amanda asked me to come with her after she got to know my name and said that she knew something about my brother. I went with her and.. Amanda got me clean, Nikita." Ryleigh said with a soft voice and a frown as if she wanted to apologize for it. Somehow she felt like she had let Nikita down. Ryleigh wished she could have remained stronger than this in front of her, and not showing this weak side of her. She cleared her throat. "Then she trained me, taught me how to fight and wield a weapon for the things I had to do." Ryleigh looked away again. "As stupid as it may sound, I found a form of new meaning in my life when I had nothing left to live for."

Nikita looked at her with concerned eyes, took both of Ryleigh's hands in hers and said: "You do have something to live for now, your brother is out there and we're gonna find him."

Nikita wasn't sure what to think. Amanda took care of this girl, invested a lot of effort and time to do so. What was the goal here? She must have had some other use for her than just letting her do these little missions. But this made things much more complicated, Ryleigh must be feeling some sort of connection to Amanda. She more than doubted if Amanda felt the same way, getting attached was not her style. Nonetheless, she needed to know what Amanda wanted before she could proceed anything.

"Ryleigh, I think you need to come with me back to Ops, Amanda knows you're here and she needs to see you or else she will.. take measures."

"But enough about you, Alex, where is Nikita?" Amanda said.

Alex had endured all of Amanda's remarks about how she should leave her new family behind, because they would all eventually betray her, one already did, and that Nikita would choose Michael over her when push came to shove. Stalling time was over now and to be honest Alex couldn't take anymore of Amanda's poisonous words. Birkhoff was still trying to retrieve the exact location of her, but was having trouble doing so and got angrier with the minute. Ryan went over to the other tech supports to have them also try. Michael stayed with Alex which caused him to get caught in the crossfire of Amanda's psychology as well.

"I'm sorry it took such an awful lot of time, but I seem to have found that 'thing' you were looking for." Nikita said with Ryleigh close behind her.

Amanda's expression of amusement faded away when she saw them, she narrowed her eyes when she noticed how the girl didn't look at her, but kept half-hidden behind Nikita, who stood protectively in front of her.

"Excellent. Now bring it back, I'm sure we can arrange something, Nikita." Amanda said with a cold voice and a smug smile.

"And why do you think I would give you anything? You didn't even say please like a real decent woman should." Nikita replied with the same expression.

Amanda sighed. "Please, listen when I tell you to do something next time."

A second later, a shock went through whole Divisions walls and floors as everyone heard the noise of an explosion.


	6. Chapter 6: The Next Target

**I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, but it just sorta turned out that way.. Hope you enjoy, the second part may seem random, but all will be explained in time :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Next Target

"What the hell!" Alex yelled as everyone slowly stood up straight again, looking anxiously around.

"Where did that come from?" Michael said.

"I'd say.. north side..?" Ryan said trying to answer while still wondering like everybody else what 'it' exactly was. He went down to Ops where a lot of commotion had arisen. The techs were just as confused as they were as to what just happened. Sonya, one of them, was asking if everyone was alright, looking quite calm, but quickly everyone figured out that the explosion had occurred in a different area. "Everyone, remain calm. We're going to determine the cause of this. And please, stay here."

Ryan seemed to have some authority as everyone did what he said, though they were quite nervous they remained where they were. He then walked towards where he thought it came from, he ended up nearing Medical, with Nikita and Michael following him on the foot. When they had come closer and while trying to see through all the dust, they noticed that they were looking upon a body on the floor. Michael went towards it, covering his mouth with his sleeve, and turned the man around, after checking his pulse with no results.

"It's Grant, one of our best doctors here.. dammit." He said.

"Oh my god.." Nikita stood in the doorway, shocked. "This is my fault."

Michael stood up. "How could it possibly be your fault?", he said.

"You don't think it was an accident, do you? I don't know how, but this was Amanda. She has got us in a corner, Michael, one that's very hard to get out of.." Nikita said.

Michael went towards her and placed his hands on her arms, guiding her out of the room onto the hallway. He cupped her face in his hands. "If so, this was not your fault, you hear me? You were just trying to protect Ryleigh and we'll keep on doing that, because we cannot send that girl back to Amanda. "

Ryan, examining the room and bringing in people to take care of the mess, said: "Guys, if this was in fact Amanda's work, it would mean we have a breach. She would have someone on the inside."

Realizing this, Nikita felt more than ever the need to finally end Amanda's life. She had made yet another victim to her conquest of learning Nikita a lesson and this was the final straw.

"Nikita, I know what you're thinking right now, but Ryan's right, she has a mole inside Division who did this, that would explain how she's been getting all her intell. One problem at the time, we're gonna sort this out."

_He turned around the corner, hands in his pockets. From the way he walked and dressed, people would assume that it was quite cold, but in fact it was at least a hundred degrees outside. Across the street he saw the shady little bar where he had come often these last couple of weeks. While walking towards it he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. He was learned to detect these kinds of things, but he didn't see anything suspicious, yet. For now it was just a feeling, but one that grew stronger by the minute._

_He was welcomed inside with a wall of smoke, but that was something he had to accept, ignoring it wasn't really an option. At the very end of the bar he saw the old man he was looking for, who himself was looking up at a tv, but wasn't paying much attention to it though. He was smoking a big cigar and his eyes were only half-open. He had just finished his drink, but when he saw the young man approaching him he ordered two more._

_"Ola, mi amigo." He said in low raspy voice, while still staring at the tv._

_The young man sat down next to him. His Spanish was a little but flawed, but he could manage with what he got. After all, these were just deals, not endless conversations. He figured he best cut to the chase, because he wanted to get out of here as soon of possible, getting more and more anxious._

_"Gracias." He said as he lifted up his drink. "So, do I have a next target..?"_

_The old man didn't answer his question, but drank up his second glass and then stood up._

_"Come with me."_

_The young man was hesitant, but followed him anyway. He really needed the money this time. They went just outside the bar, back into the almost suffocating hot air. He waited patiently for he knew the man was an odd one and he had his ways, but he could always rely on him. As he watched the man it seemed as if he himself was waiting for someone, looking left and right out over the street._

_"My apologies, you won't have anything to do anymore," he said as a van neared and two men walked up to them, "you are the next target."_

_And before he knew it he was grabbed from behind and a piece of cloth was held for his mouth. The last thing he could do was give a confused and betrayed look to the old man he'd probably never see again._


	7. Chapter 7: Daily Grind

**Enjoy! And please review :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 7: Daily Grind

Ryleigh sat on her bed, reading one of the few books that were there inside Division, but that was not at all where her mind was at. She was going over once again what happened, because the last couple of days had been quite insane. First there was brought in a new guy, Owen, and at first there was a lot of tension around him, no one knowing what he had been up to lately. After being debriefed he joined the team, and he and Alex examined yet again Medical after the explosion. They were now certain that it had been an inside job and that they were dealing with a mole from Amanda.

Ryleigh looked up from her book and gazed out in front of her. She was still quite stunned that Amanda knew about all this. Nikita told her that Amanda was a therapist at Division and that everyone here knew her, and that they didn't have the most joyful memories of her. She felt like Nikita didn't tell her everything about their relation, but Ryleigh was already conflicted and confused. She just couldn't believe that the Amanda that got her clean, trained her and helped her was the cause of so much hurt. She had sat through Nikita's story, but truthfully, all she wanted to do was to walk away from her words.

It annoyed her that at the same time, she couldn't shake the feeling that that could be just how Amanda was like. In the time spent with her she sometimes felt an extreme coldness towards her when she was being trained, there was no mercy. And when they talked, she sometimes had the feeling there wasn't much sincerity in her voice, she just knew exactly the right words to say. At that time, that was all Ryleigh longed for, someone to comfort her, tell her it wasn't all her fault. And she didn't ask the questions that were raised, because she didn't want to lose what she had.

Now that she was away from it, she could see in another perspective. Maybe it was all just a lie, maybe it was never really about her. The thought filled her with disappointment and sorrow.

She stood up and started walking through her room. This was now her fourth day in here. After the situation with the explosion and actually just the situation with Amanda, Nikita and Alex weren't gonna let her simply walk out the door. They wasn't really a choice for her, but Ryleigh didn't mind. She actually liked being in Division somehow, mainly because of Nikita and Alex, who she felt more and more connected to. But also because of the other people that were there with her, all of them really nice in comparison to where she lived before, and the thick strong walls made her feel safe from anything. One of those people being Sonya. After investigating more Birkhoff had found out that she was the mole the whole time. He was conflicted though, because he and her had been 'connecting'. Besides she was forced to spy on Division due to a kill-chip in her head that Amanda had placed there, another thing Ryleigh had trouble with comprehending. Eventually they found a way to remove it and she was free. Unfortunately, Amanda activated then a second mole, but he was properly dealt with. Hopefully, there were no threats left.

Nikita and the team still had their missions in which Ryleigh wasn't allowed to participate in obviously, but she was curious though. How they were operating and what it was exactly what they were doing. Just because she felt safe in Division didn't mean she enjoyed it all the time. There was sensationally little to do for her. This was now her last remaining book that she didn't finish yet so she occasionally tried to keep herself busy with something else. She was being educated into becoming a master hacker by Birkhoff himself, which she enjoyed, he was good company and she actually wanted to learn this stuff. And he liked to teach and to be the wise master to his young apprentice, as he once referred to them. Sadly, these were rare moments, because he was busy most of the time.

She was already quite skilled in fighting, but she trained anyway, it felt good to exercise and just release some tension. She was walking towards the training hall when she bumped into Nikita, who just came out Ryan's office.

"Oh, hey Ryleigh, everything ok?" She said with a smile, but she seemed tense.

"Yeah, I'm good, I was headed to the training area.. you?" Ryleigh replied, trying to read Nikita's face.

"Same, we're working on a mission to hunt down a.. former agent. Having a little trouble though, but nothing big." She said still smiling. "If there's anything, you can come to me, you know that right?"

"Yeah I know.." Ryleigh said, while she was left with a slight confused look on her face as Nikita rushed away.

o0o

Nikita entered Ops where the whole team was already waiting for her.

"Have you selected the alpha team yet?" Nikita asked Michael.

"Yes. I have picked the very best for the job." He replied.

Alex was standing with her arms crossed next to Michael and a concerned look on her face.

"Nikita, I still don't think this is the best idea."

Nikita looked at Alex and tilted her head a little.

"I know, Alex. I'm not happy about it either.. every time I look at her there is this slowly growing feeling of guilt, but it's the way it is. Amanda has to be stopped. And Ryleigh is better off not knowing."

"She'll found out somehow.. I mean, how long are we planning on keeping her here? I doubt she wants to stay here underground for long. We don't have the right to control her like this."

"No we don't. So as soon as Amanda has been dealt with we're letting her go into the outside world. And we'll help her along the way, get her into school, make sure she'll be living somewhere save.. and then she'll never has to hear or see from us again. Live a normal life like she should have in the first place."

"It's too late for that.." Alex said melancholically.

Michael intervened the argument. "I think we can all agree that Amanda has to be brought down as soon as possible and we're wasting precious time. We can decide later what to tell Ryleigh."

Nikita looked at Alex, who inhaled deeply. "Alright then, let's do this."

o0o

Ryleigh found herself once again sitting on her bed and reading her book after training. Everyone else had left for a mission except for Birkhoff and Ryan. She had been walking down the hallway when she saw them heading for the elevator in their gear and armored. She was impressed by the way it looked and she caught herself feeling jealous in a way. She wouldn't mind getting out of here and be a part of some ingenious mission with them. Nikita saw her staring and had walked over to her. She gave her kiss on the forehead and said: "Hang in there kid, it's all gonna be over soon. You behave while we're away, alright?" She smiled and then she returned to her team to join them in the elevator. As the doors closed she had seen Alex giving her look that seemed to express apology, but Ryleigh wasn't sure what to make of it.

o0o

Nikita was driving with Alex and Owen in the car, Michael was in the other with the alpha team. They were going over the plan again. They found out that through the two moles that Amanda had moved herself into another mansion, somewhere deep into the woods. From just satellite images it was almost invisible.

"So first we check the perimeter from a distance in the surrounding woods, you never know what's truly walking around there, how many men. Michael and the alpha team will take those down, while Birkhoff works his magic with the security system. That's where you come into play, Alex, to place the transmitter near the house. Owen and I go in and locate Amanda as quickly as we can and finish her, no hesitation. Not this time." Nikita spoke concentrated, her hands having a tight grip on the steering wheel.


	8. Chapter 8: Nightfall

**Okay so Ryleigh's not really in this chapter, and I realized that a lot was already from Nikita's perspective. So just to make it all clear, there are like three main perspectives throughout the whole story, with also Alex xd I hope you're all still following.. if so, I hope you like the chapter! :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 8: Nightfall

It was now pitch dark and if not for their night goggles nobody would have seen a thing. Nikita was moving through the trees without making a sound when she stopped at the edge of the forest and she could see the mansion. Without looking she knew that Alex and Owen were close behind her. A few seconds later she could actually make out the shape of two people each hiding behind a tree. She already got the update from Michael that the guards around the house had been taking care of. She gave Alex the sign that it was clear for her to go.

Alex went swiftly as if it didn't cost a single bit of effort until she reached the wall of the building and leaned against it, then she cautiously checked the corner. She had to climb up higher to place the transmitter where the main power supply was and where she had to place a tiny bomb as well, because they never knew if it may come in handy.

Nikita was watching from a distance how Alex climbed up the wall onto the balcony and then further up to the roof. So far it went exactly as planned. She could see Alex sign that her task was completed. Nikita and Owen exchanged looks and they ran towards the back door, parallel to each other around the house. When they both reached the place of destination, Owen picked the lock. This was a silent operation, no big guns blazing through the house, just a quick kill after they would leave as quietly as they came. Birkhoff had informed them that there was surprisingly little power-driven security. There were a lot of guards though, which Michael reluctantly admitted to having a little trouble with. He advised them to be extra careful inside.

They went in, gun pointed out in front of them, checking around every corner and clearing every room. Both soon realized that there were actually no guards at all in the building, because they would have come across them by now. They had almost swept the whole building now and they became anxious and frustrated. Was this whole mission for nothing, had she even been her at all?

"Michael, this building is just completely empty.." Nikita spoke softly through her com.

"It's a big place, Nikita, are you sure?" He replied.

"She's not here." Nikita sighed and lowered her gun. She signed Owen that they were gonna head out.

When they got outside, Michael said through their com that he and Alex were waiting for them by the cars. As Nikita and Owen were moving away from the house, she felt more and more that something was off. She looked back and for a second she could swear she saw a silhouette near the house.

"Owen, I saw something.. someone." She whispered through her breath.

"Probably some guard gaining consciousness, come on, we gotta go." He replied, not taking her suspicions seriously. When he saw that Nikita had let it go as well and was following him again, he continued stepping over the roots in the forest that was going slightly uphill. As he neared the cars he looked back again, only to see nothing but black trees and darkness.

o0o

Darkness, still this darkness. Wasn't she out of these woods already? She couldn't see a thing. It was only after a few seconds that she realized her eyes were still closed, she just hadn't managed yet to open them. Her eyelids were just so heavy.

She heard a loud noise as if a door slammed shut and it kind of brought her out of her drowsing state. Her eyes were now half open and she could make out some walls and the door she thought she heard, yet no one seemed to have entered the room she was in. Well, room, it seemed more like a large underground hall, with dimmed lights and random junk stuffed to the sides all covered in dust. It seemed as if no one had been here in a long time. Having gained more consciousness she came to another conclusion. Her hands were tied to the chair she was on, and so were her feet. As far as she could tell, she didn't have any injuries. Yet. What the hell was going on?

o0o

Michael bent down on his knees and took his face in his hands, rubbed it as if he needed to wake up until a hand touched his shoulder. It was Alex' trying to comfort him.

"We'll find her, Michael, that is if she hasn't freed herself by then. Wherever she is.." Tears welled up in Alex' eyes as she looked out in front of her over the seemingly endless slopes of forest.

"It's Amanda, I just know it is, who else would.. she can't just be gone." Michael had stood up and was now pacing back and forth rambling.

"Then we need to head back to Division, where she might contact us. That's our best option. I don't think.. I'm afraid we're not gonna find her here anymore." Alex said, trying to get through to Michael.

Michael stopped pacing as he saw Owen returning from the woods with the alpha team. Owen had gone straight back into the forest after he noticed Nikita was gone. He felt the most painful and gut-wrenching guilt and he didn't allow himself to lose even a second of time by thinking things through. He informed Michael and Alex through his com and then he spend all his energy on finding her, apparently they had stayed at the cars for when she somehow ended up there, but did send the alpha team after him.

Michael wanted to beat the living crap out of him, yell every existing curse word along with it, but Alex already foresaw this happening and placed herself between the two. Owen stayed a safe distance away from Michael anyway.

"Michael, Michael, he didn't meant for this to happen either! We need to work together if we wanna find Nikita." Alex said firmly.

o0o

"Guess it's been a while since you took some medication, you're clearly not handling it very well."

Nikita's eyes were wide open upon hearing this voice and she lifted her head. In front of her stood Amanda with her arms crossed, leaning against the doorpost, watching Nikita as if it was one of the most amusing things she had seen in a long time.

"Well I guess I have you to thank for that." Nikita said sarcastically while she noticed that her voice was really weak and she had trouble making herself audible. Which annoyed her deeply somehow, she didn't want to come over as weak in front of Amanda, she didn't want to give her that satisfaction.

"Oh, how come?" Amanda asked, still enjoying herself.

"You're the one that turned me into a decent woman, remember?" Nikita managed to pull off a smirk with the little strength and awareness that she had.

Amanda smiled and walked over to a table right from Nikita and sat on a chair beside it. She studied Nikita, she finally had her in her complete power. Her face turned serious.

"Let's skip the questions shall we, you know what it is I want." Amanda said.

"Tell me, how's life these days, Amanda? Are you having a blast with all your obedient little minions.. speaking of, is Ari still around?" Nikita said. She wasn't gonna give Amanda what she wanted, not even a single bit.

Amanda sighed and looked annoyed. "Unwise, Nikita."

Nikita screamed. Suddenly there was an inexplicable pain going through her body. Her back arched while every muscle in her body was being taut. And just like that it was gone again, though it had felt like ages. Her breathing was heavy as she tried to control her body. Now that she paid more attention, she saw the electrodes attached to her fingers and ankles. She looked up and also saw that Amanda had a control panel on the table and her hand was on the switch.

"What.. the hell.." Nikita breathed out, still stunned by the sudden amounts of intense pain that just went through her body.

"Don't play with me, Nikita. You know what I want." Amanda said, who herself hadn't moved a muscle.

"Yes I do, and now what? I can take your torture." Nikita said.

"For what? Why would you do that to yourself? Come on, Nikita, this is ridiculous."

"Ridiculous? Keeping an innocent girl from your clutches is the exact opposite." Nikita said with absolute devotion.

Amanda bent closer towards her and looked Nikita straight in the eyes, hers were narrowed.

"Well let me teach you your most important lesson here; you can't save everyone." She said as she turned the switch again.


	9. Chapter 9: The Ties That Bind

Chapter 9: The Ties That Bind

From observing everyone in Division, Birkhoff and Ryan in particular, it wasn't hard to tell that something was completely wrong. Birkhoff was commandeering every tech to work their asses of even though they were already doing the best they could. Ryan didn't really know what to do, except for keeping Birkhoff in check. Ryleigh went up to him.

"Ryan, what is going on?" She asked with genuine concern.

He turned around when he heard her voice, he hadn't seen her come in yet. He quickly looked around at the screens of the techs and the main screen if there was anything that could give away what the mission originally was.

"No, no, Ryleigh, you can't be here, alright?" He said nervously, but it also sounded as a command.

"I know you don't like me knowing about your business, but clearly..-" She stopped mid- sentence and looked at Ryan shocked. "Did.. did something happen to..?

Ryan opened his mouth and then closed it again while he was trying to figure out what to say. He finally understood all of Alex' objections, it was so hard and just somehow painful to be lying to this girl.

"Ryleigh, Nikita has been compromised during the mission.." He said.

"Compromised, what, what are you talking about?" She said confused, but she began to feel anxious.

"She's been missing, taken."

"By who?" She said as she got a glimpse at the screen of an unmanned computer. She saw a picture of Amanda under the heading of '_Operation Nightfall._

"..Ryan, what is that, what's operation Nightfall..?" She asked slowly.

Ryan knew Nikita would rip his head off for this, but he didn't have a choice. He sighed.

"Ryleigh, look at me. This mission they went on was not just an everyday mission. Amanda had infiltrated our system, killed one of our own and god knows how many others, she had to be stopped. Operation Nightfall was a kill mission. We did not succeed and now Nikita has been captured most possibly by Amanda."

Ryleigh just stood there. She didn't know what to think or what to do anymore. Her first instinct was again to run away, but that was clearly not an option here, she was just locked up in some underground facility full of people she didn't really know. People who had betrayed her so deeply.

From the corner of her eye she saw a group of people entering Ops.

Blinded by anger she ran towards them, towards Alex.

"You lied to me! I trusted you and you lied to me!" She yelled as she pushed Alex. Ryleigh just wanted to hurt her in any way, she tried to hit Alex, but she was faster than her and she grabbed both her wrists.

"Whoa hey! Ryleigh, calm down!" Alex said as she tried to control her, but she knew Ryleigh had every right to be mad. It pained her so much to see her like this, the feeling of betrayal and desperation in her eyes.

Michael grabbed Ryleigh away from Alex and guided her towards the hallway. Ryleigh was still struggling, but she quickly realized it wasn't doing any good and she let him take her.

"You promised." Ryleigh said pained while she looked back at Alex.

o0o

"Wake up, Nikita."

She had gone unconscious, apparently. Nikita slowly came to her senses again. She didn't know how many rounds of electric shock she lasted until she passed out, and honestly she didn't care. Amanda could go on forever, Nikita wasn't planning to give in.

Were the lights more dimmed than before? As she opened her eyes completely she noticed an intimidatingly large man standing in front of her, who was blocking the light for the most part.

"I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Thaddeus, or Thad for the inner circle." Amanda said as she smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Thad." Nikita spoke, trying to look up to him.

Thad looked at Amanda, who nodded, after which he threw Nikita a punch in her stomach.

Nikita's body bent over from the heavy impact while all the air in her lungs left her body. She coughed heavily as she tried to pull herself together again.

"Thad's Greek, not English. A little simple minded of you to be assuming so." Amanda said.

"Greek, of course, my mistake.." Nikita said still coughing.

"So, shall we get back to the deal we're gonna make?" Amanda said as if they were just two business partners in a fancy office.

While she was unconscious Amanda had installed a whole technical area around the table she was sitting in front of.

"I'm gonna make a call to Division and I bet Michael wants nothing but to get you out of here. He maybe won't admit it, but he'll bring the girl personally to me if that meant he could get you free."

Nikita began to have a tormented expression on her face. Michael knew she would despise him for making such a trade. On the other hand, he didn't know Ryleigh yet like she did. But he wouldn't just give her up like that. Would he?

o0o

Michael was just about to talk to Ryleigh, try to calm her down and explain the situation as far as that was possible, but an incoming message from Amanda obstructed him from that. She had let herself appear on the large screen, for everyone to see. And what he saw made his heart pace at an outrageous pace for two reasons. One, he looked upon an alive Nikita. But she was in fact in the hands of Amanda and from the looks of it she had already suffered under her care. Her head was resting on her chest as she sat strapped to a chair.

"Here's your strong Nikita, as a sign of good faith. You know what I want. I am giving you thirty minutes to decide what to do. Be sensible as I know at least some of you are and make the right decision. And please don't try anything stupid, because I'll be ten steps ahead of you." Amanda spoke and she disappeared as sudden as she came.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, until Birkhoff took the lead and continued commandeering the techs.

"Come on, people, keep working, analyze that video and get me a location!"

Michael and Alex were still looking at the screen, but were called in by Ryan, and a few seconds later they were all in heated discussion.

In all the commotion Ryleigh had been sneaking off towards the elevator. She had seen the video call just as everyone else. She had seen Nikita. And she had seen the surroundings.

As angry and upset she was, she felt in her heart that she didn't actually want any of them to be harmed, especially not Nikita. She wasn't gonna let anything happen to them due to her mistakes no more. It was best to leave them by just trading places.

She arrived at the level of the garage. In her days spent in Division one of her favorite activities was just walking through the massive complex. She learned quick and after a while she knew where all the basics were and how to get there by using different routes each time. Luckily no one was here. She was almost certain they would decide to make the trade too eventually. Nikita's life was way more important to them than hers, but she wasn't taking any chances.

She couldn't help but smile when she thought about the car hijackings she had done once or twice, and that this was gonna be the situation she'd be using those skills for.

While she was driving the black SUV, to which she needed to adjust a little, it was quite different from the smaller cars she had driven, she started doubting. Did she really recognize the right place? The large hall was one you would remember, it looked like a floor of an office building under construction, concrete floor and pillars, but with walls and no windows. Still, she could also be driving to a completely different location. Then again, there was no going back now, this was the only chance she had.

o0o

"No! There is just no way we're gonna hand over Ryleigh to that woman. We just need to come up with a plan.." Alex said, frustration seeping through every word she spoke.

"You heard her, Alex, if we try anything, anything, she's going to take measures I don't even wanna think about." Ryan replied with almost the same tone.

"I know you don't have trouble sacrificing little girls, Ryan, but you're gonna have to go through me first now!" Alex scolded at Ryan, but as she spoke those words she felt immediate regret.

Ryan was taken aback by her intense remark and he didn't really know how to react.

"Guys, stop! We are wasting time while Nikki is out there suffering! We are gonna come up with a plan to save both of them, alright?" Birkhoff interfered fiercely. He looked at both Ryan and Alex, who nodded, but with bowed heads, as if ashamed of their heated argument.

Alex suddenly lifted her head and looked around the place. She ignored all the staring faces as she was looking for one face in particular.

"Where's Ryleigh..?"


	10. Chapter 10: Return

**Hi guys, it may took a little longer, but I needed to figure some stuff out for the story. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 10: Return  


She took a right turn, onto a road that was a little less maintained than the adjacent one. This time, she was glad that she had the strong solid SUV to absorb most of the shocks from the holes in the road.

She was scared. She surely had been driving for half an hour now and she didn't know what Amanda was up to. Amanda. What was going on? This woman she trusted so much was becoming more and more someone she should fear with every fiber in her body. She had no idea what to expect when she would finally see her again, how would she react? Ryleigh used to read her quite well, but this other side of her was just the most unpredictable person ever.

* * *

"It's been thirty minutes already, let's see if they've chosen wisely.." Amanda said.

"Wisely? You see, Amanda, I thought I knew you, but there seem to be some carefully hidden qualities of you." Nikita said and she was glad to notice that Amanda took the bait, she was just too curious to let it go.

"You don't know me, Nikita, you never have." Amanda said as she turned away from the computer to Nikita.

"Ryleigh. I came to know her, she's ah.. she has her walls built around her, but I managed to see through sometimes and you know what I think?" Nikita continued provocatively.

Amanda's eyes narrowed at hearing Ryleigh's name. She was awaiting the rest of Nikita's story, but Nikita could see she would be just as happy if she'd gave her another few rounds of electric shock, just to silence her.

"She didn't care for you one bit. You were just a faceless surrogate in desperate times." Nikita said.

"Just like I was for you? Don't confuse your own feelings with hers." Amanda said back at her.

"Exactly. You have never been truly something to anyone, you're hollow, Amanda, you're nothing." Nikita said as she seemed to express pity towards her.

Amanda stood up from her chair in an instant and hit Nikita with rage.

"You only know a fraction about me, do not think you have the wisdom to comprehend everyone's mind. You barely know your own. " Amanda spoke with trembling voice. She wanted to turn away from Nikita but then faced her again. "I trained her, Nikita, I got her clean! That was all.. me." She spoke the last words in a softer manner, but it frightened Nikita more. But she wasn't gonna let that stop her, she just had to play the mind games at the same level.

"Yet you didn't bring her to her brother, now did you." Nikita said back.

Amanda tilted her head, surprised by this sudden observation.

"Oh come on, Amanda, with all the resources and time you had you would have found him by now if you really tried. It's because you knew she would leave you after that, it was the only thing that still kept her around. You didn't want that to happen, because you got attached, Amanda." Nikita spoke fiercely to her.

Amanda looked as if all the anger built up inside was gonna take control of her, but then all of a sudden her face turned emotionless. There was a knock on the door.

"I don't do attached." She said, then walked to the door and slammed it shut.

* * *

At Division there was a growing feeling of panic and frustration. With their thirty minutes almost up and Ryleigh gone, no one really knew what they could do.

"We're missing a car." Ryan reported to the group as he walked up to them.

"What? How can.. she took a car? She took a car and she left us in this goddamn mess." Michael said frustrated as he ran his hand over his head.

"No she wouldn't just do that.." Alex said looking at the ground and shaking her head, not able to accept these recent discoveries.

"How do you know, Alex, how do you know? She has been with Amanda for a long time, far all we know this was all just some set-up from the beginning! We never should've trusted her like this, we didn't even properly interrogate her.." Michael said.

"I don't believe that." Alex said firmly.

Michael sighed hopelessly. "I.. I don't know either okay? All I know is that Nikita is out there somewhere, tied to a chair and enduring god knows what."

"And now we sort of lost our only asset to form any kind of plan.." Birkhoff said, but his voice faded away towards the end as Alex gave him look saying '_seriously?'_.

"I'll get back to that video.." He said and went over to Sonya, who called for him.

"Guys, it's been thirty minutes." Ryan said nervously.

They immediately had installed a timer after Amanda ended her message and everyone in Division was now aware of the four zero's on the clock.

"Fuck! No!" Birkhoff exclaimed, but everyone else was too tense to say anything and just stared at the screen, waiting.

Alex was thinking, if Amanda installed a deadline then she would act on that, this was taking too long. Something must have interfered with her plan.

She slowly realized something, but was resistant of letting that thought become a plausible scenario.

She turned around towards Michael and Ryan. "What if.. what if Ryleigh's trading places with Nikita on her own..?"

* * *

Ryleigh realized she hadn't really though out a solid plan. She figured she would just ride up to the building as loudly as she could, so that the guards would think it was someone that was supposed to be there. There was even a gate, perfect!

She opened the window to talk to the broad-shouldered guard who signed her to stop.

"No one's aloud to be here, you best turn around ma'am." He said, friendlier than you would judge from his looks.

Ma'am. She never knew she seemed that old to be addressed that way. Ryleigh wanted to laugh, but that didn't seem like the very best of plans in this situation.

"I'm sorry, but this is actually my destination. You can have Amanda ask for me, she knows me." Ryleigh said, trying to appear as confident as she could.

"We don't know who that is, now leave. Quickly." Her friendly guard had turned ominous and threatening as he spoke with his dark eyes looking at her from under his eyebrows, tightening his grip on his rifle.

She was getting real uneasy and nervous. Was she wrong about the location after all? Then to who did these guards belong to? She decided to give it one more try.

"No, but, I'm something she wants, my name's Ryleigh." She said with a voice more desperate now.

The guard tilted his head.

"Step out of the vehicle, please."

Ryleigh widened her eyes and her breathing started to get heavier. As the guard saw she was hesitant and looking at his rifle, he lowered it just for her sake.

"Ma'am, I'm not asking." He said.

Ryleigh realized she didn't have much of a choice and opened her door. She hopped out and took a step afterwards as she turned to the guard, but halfway through her movement she was smacked down to the ground by the guard's rifle. Barely two seconds she held on to consciousness, but then it all went black.

* * *

Ryleigh woke up, with the first thing she sensed the immense throbbing of her head. She frowned in pain as she tried to see through the still blurry image of her eyes. She wasn't making a lot of progress until she noticed movement in front of her. Someone clothed in dark colours was walking up to her.

"Nice to see you again, Ryleigh." The woman's voice said.

"A.. Amanda?" Ryleigh said, trying to figure what was going on.

"Yes. I'm sorry about your head. And your straps. These guards tend to handle things a bit.. barbaric." She said with a smile.

It wasn't until then that she noticed she was in fact strapped to the chair she was in.

"I don't understand.. any of it, I just.." Ryleigh uttered in complete confusion. Her eyes widened with sudden realization: "Nikita! You found her! No you.. you captured her." Ryleigh said accusatory, but with an uncertain look on her face.

"You need to realize something, Ryleigh. Nikita is not who you may think she is. None of them are. I have helped you a great deal by getting you out of there."

"I got myself out of there!" She snapped at her.

"And why did you do that, to 'save' Nikita? Or was there something else?" Amanda said provocatively trying to fathom Ryleigh's emotions.

Ryleigh looked away angry and annoyed. Yes, there was another reason. She was relieved to get out of there, away from the hurt and the people that caused it. And Amanda knew it. Amanda knew her.

When she looked back again at Amanda, her eyes were filled with tears, she just couldn't help it. Amanda's eyes narrowed and then looked at her with pity.

"They lied to me." Ryleigh said cold.

Amanda kneeled down before her and held one hand on Ryleigh's. "You've seen their true side now. In the end, they all care about nothing but themselves. But it's alright, you're free of them." She smiled and untied the straps.

Ryleigh had a faint feeling that she couldn't yet define, but she buried whatever it was away. She was just glad to see the Amanda that she knew again.


	11. Chapter 11: Magnified

**Not that I doubt the intelligence of any of you, but um I don't really know if everyone understands what's going on, but all will be explained later on. It's not some ingenious complex thing, but I just hope you'll stick around to see what happens :) Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

Chapter 11: Magnified  


Ryleigh stood up from her chair, without really knowing what to do next.

"So.. what are you gonna do with Nikita now?"

Amanda looked as if she was carefully weighing her options, but then spoke with a determined voice.

"She'll be released. After all, the trade has been made, albeit one that did not exactly turn out the way they thought it would. But my word is something to be depended on, they should know that." She gave Ryleigh a piercing look. "When people lie, scars are left behind."

Ryleigh looked down. She felt uncomfortable when Amanda talked to her like that. It wasn't even because of the intense voice, it was because she was always actually telling the truth and Ryleigh knew it.

"I'm letting you do the honours of informing them." Amanda said.

"What? Why? They will.." Ryleigh uttered nervously.

"They will try to convince you? I'm doing this, because it's time you show them that they don't control you. Follow me." Amanda said while she was walking away.

Ryleigh followed her silently, contemplating what the hell she was gonna say. Amanda opened the door for her and she walked in, towards the computer. She walked past an empty chair with straps to it just like hers, but that didn't really grasp her attention, there was junk everywhere.

"It's already set up, you just make the call." Amanda said as she closed the door, but then she held it open for just a second. "Oh and Ryleigh, keep it short." She smiled and then finally left.

* * *

Out of nowhere the girl they had been searching for appeared on the screen.

Alex took a step forward, looking shocked at the screen.

"Ryleigh!" She exclaimed, relieved at the sight of her, but anxious about the situation.

"Nikita will be brought back to you. Come to the transit warehouse H362 at the docks, 22:00h. She'll be there for your retrieval, no harm will come your way." She reported with little to no emotion.

"Ryleigh, are you alright? Where's Amanda?" Alex said, unsure about what the meaning of it all was.

"I'm fine, the deal's done. Has the message been understood?" Ryleigh said.

"I don't know what's going on, but we're gonna get you out of there, Ryleigh." Alex said determined.

"Listen. I don't need to be rescued. After this, it'll be just like we never met."

They suddenly all heard a scream.

Ryleigh turned around at the loud and unpleasant sound and when she looked back at the screen, the cold mask she had been wearing was gone and Alex could see the girl's real face again, she looked nervous.

"I gotta go." She said and the screen went back to the original images and information it displayed before the interception.

"No, Ryleigh, wait!" Alex yelled, but it was too late.

"Dammit.. this is completely wrong." Alex said, turning around towards the others. "Amanda has her there, with some sort of leverage or through sick manipulation.. And where was Nikita? How can we trust their little agreement?"Alex rambled on.

"Alex, Alex, calm down." Michael said comforting. "We're just gonna have to-" He was cut off by Birkhoff.

"I got it, I got it! With Ryleigh already being there, there was like a 25 mile radius, and there was some weird single that we picked up so-" This time, Michael returned the favor and intercepted.

"Birkhoff! You know where they are?"

"I know where they are." He said smiling.

* * *

She had trouble keeping her calm when she saw Alex' face again. Everyone's faces there caused a rage deep inside of her that she didn't know could be that strong. The sudden scream brought her out of it, but now she was just scared. Where the hell did that come from?

She slowly opened the door and peered around the corner, there was no one to be seen. She walked down the hall to where she thought it came from. God, this building was just too big. She thought she had come to know it a little bit when she used to be here, but the knowledge she'd gained seemed to be completely gone now. Maybe it was the lighting, everything was just darker.

"Did you do what I asked?"

Ryleigh jumped up from the sudden voice.

"Amanda! I.. what.. yes, I did." Ryleigh said startled.

"Good. Who did you talk to?"

"Alex." Ryleigh said and looked down.

"Ah Alex. Yes that is a difficult case.." Amanda said absorbed in her own thoughts, until she was brought out of it by Ryleigh.

"Amanda, what was the scream?" Ryleigh said with a frown, afraid that she already knew the answer to her own question.

"Something that needed to be done. Don't worry about it." Amanda answered. "Listen, I need to take care of some things, you think you can find your way back to the room you used to have here? For the time being I have placed a DVD-player and some movies, _Once Upon A Time In The West _included." She said with her sweetest voice.

"Yeah, I can do that. Thanks." Ryleigh answered with a somewhat shy smile.

Amanda walked past her and then went down the stairs. Ryleigh watched until she was completely gone and then started walking herself.

Even though she told Amanda, she wasn't actually sure. She just went with the direction that felt right and here and there she recognized some things to guide her. She went up a floor, where she was relieved to see some windows which shed some natural light. The grand old hall she was now in had several doors at the sides. She headed for the door on the left, where a little bit of light was coming through underneath the door, maybe someone already turned the light on.

When she opened it, she was immediately certain this was not her room. The light she saw came from the ceiling, where a lamp was hanging, shedding its light onto a woman in a chair.

She only saw the back of her, but there was no doubt. She walked around her until she stood completely in front of her.

"Nikita.." Ryleigh said almost silently under her breath, but the woman lifted her head.

"Ryleigh." Nikita had a genuine happy expression, but right after she spoke she had to cough heavily. Her face was quite messed up. There was blood under her nose and mouth and a nasty wound on the left side of her head. She didn't look good, that was an understatement.

"How'd you end up here?" Nikita asked.

Although it pained her to see Nikita like this, there was another voice inside her head telling her that Nikita just got what she deserved. Some form of repercussion for the betrayal of them all.

"I returned to Amanda, on my own." Ryleigh answered, looking down at Nikita.

Nikita looked at Ryleigh for a long time, observing her. There was something she couldn't place.

"What did she do to you, Ryleigh?" Nikita said slowly.

"She didn't have to _do_ anything, I just had to realize where my loyalties were." Ryleigh answered.

"You need to realize that Amanda is a master manipulator, and that she'll do anything to get what and where she wants, you'll be tossed aside when she's done with you!" Nikita said with concerned voice.

"Nikita, don't waste your energy. Looks to me like you don't have much left." Ryleigh said bothered by Nikita's words.

"I'm not gonna leave you here behind only to find your body some time after.." Nikita said.

"By tonight you'll be free and our paths won't cross each other after that as far as I'm concerned." Ryleigh said, ignoring Nikita's last remark.

"You're gonna get yourself killed, Ryleigh!" Nikita said, trying to get through to her.

"You were gonna kill the one that saved me! Behind my back!" Ryleigh yelled, her breathing heavier due to the release of anger. "So I'm sorry if I don't believe even one word that comes out of your mouth."

Ryleigh was ready to leave this conversation behind and walked towards the door while she heard Nikita talking softly to herself.

"That's it.. that's it.. it's magnified.."

She shook her head, almost feeling sorry for Nikita, who apparently had gone mad now, and stepped out of the room.

* * *

_'And Frank?_

_-Frank sent us._

_Did you bring a horse for me?_

_-Well.. looks like we're.. *snickers*.. looks like we're shy one horse._

_You brought two too many.'_

Her door opened, but Ryleigh didn't notice, she was completely absorbed in the scene on her screen.

" Ryleigh."

She jumped up from her bed where she was sitting and turned around. That was the second time Amanda had caught her off guard this day.

"You've taken care of the things you were talking about?" Ryleigh said casual, not really knowing what Amanda's state of mind was.

"You don't think I'd keep you unprotected, right?" She asked calmly, with her head slightly tilt.

"I.. no?" Ryleigh answered with a question mark at the end. She did not know at all where this was coming from.

"Because I don't. That's why there are camera's placed throughout this building. To keep you safe.. and to keep you in check."

"Oh!" Ryleigh said, suddenly realizing what this was about. "Amanda, I swear, I didn't mean to go to her, I was just lost really and-"

"It's alright. I actually want you to have a little chat with Nikita." Amanda smiled.


	12. Chapter 12: Reckoning

**Finally found time to update! Hope you enjoy! :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 12: Reckoning

"This op will be an extraction mission. So the people we're looking for are Nikita and also a girl called Ryleigh that some of you may know. This is her."

Behind Michael on the screen there was an information sheet on Nikita and on Ryleigh, as far as they had any. Alongside that, an image of her that Birkhoff pulled of a camera, to make sure every agent knew who they had to save.

"And I have to repeat this, many may be tempted to kill Amanda, but again, this is not your objective. Use your tranquilizers." Michael looked at the agents in front of him, who themselves looked determined and ready. "Clear?" The agents responded positively and Michael told them to head for the vehicles.

Michael sighed and placed his hands on his hips, while looking skeptically at Alex. "You know that there's a possibility Amanda does get killed by one of ours?" He held a small pause. "And I wouldn't blame them."

"I know. But this is necessary, we cannot kill Amanda and bring Ryleigh with us, there would be no reasoning with her then. And besides, we might get some useful information out of her, make a little deal with Ari perhaps." Alex said.

Michael nodded slightly, acknowledging her point. He then gave her a quick smile. "Come on, we're gonna get them back." He said determined.

* * *

She didn't feel like seeing nor talking to Nikita again so soon at all. As she was following Amanda towards the room she left not long ago, there had been no further explanation on what 'a little chat' meant.

"Another visit?" Nikita said sarcastically, but her attitude changed when she saw both Ryleigh and Amanda, coming to stand in front of her, neither of them showing much emotion.

"Why are you letting me go?" Nikita asked. "I haven't heard much of your wise life lessons, or did you lose your great insights?"

"That's because you haven't been paying attention." Amanda replied.

Nikita narrowed her eyes and looked at Ryleigh.

"And what makes you think I'm done with you? We still have a few hours of quality time left." Amanda continued. She bowed down to Nikita until her mouth was next to Nikita's ear and spoke soft, but intensely. "When they find you, I'm gonna make sure it'll be a battered and broken woman."

Amanda stood up straight again, pleased to see some form of fear in Nikita's eyes, although she was trying hard to conceal it.

"Ryleigh. Before we're gonna return Nikita to her pack of liars, I figured you might wanted to say a few words."

"Actually.. I have really nothing left to say to her." Ryleigh said cold.

"Very well then. Take a swing." Amanda said.

Ryleigh looked at her surprised. "What?"

"You're not fooling anybody, especially not me, and not yourself. You have learned to control your anger well, but you've been dying to hit someone ever since they betrayed you." Amanda said.

Amanda saw the conflicted emotions in Ryleigh's eyes and continued. "All that rage build up inside of you; let it out. They formed a bond of trust with you, Nikita made you trust her. Then she showed you it meant nothing by lying to you, you meant nothing to her. It hurt. It hurt bad, for you have been lied to before-"

A loud thump had Amanda interrupted. Nikita was leaning to her left side due to the impact of Ryleigh's fist on her face. Blood dripped from her mouth.

This sick game Amanda was playing, Nikita wasn't gonna give in. She could take the pain, but even though it was fueled by Amanda's words, it hurt her more when she realized that Ryleigh actually wanted to hurt her. She did not foresee the consequences of not telling Ryleigh about the mission. She didn't know Ryleigh would be holding such big of a grudge against her. Nikita needed to find a way to convince her that Amanda was the enemy here, but right now Amanda had a much better grip on her than she did. Ryleigh seemed like a completely different person.

Absorbed in her own mind, Nikita did not see the second strike coming down on her face. This time her head was punched to the right. A pained expression formed on her face.

"Good, take it out on me.." Nikita said looking at Ryleigh's face, seeing the fire in her eyes. "Let it out."

Ryleigh only felt angrier when she heard Nikita. What was she trying to do? Calm her down and pretend as if she understood? Fuck that, this was not the time for reasoning, this was reckoning.

Nikita looked at Amanda in disgust, who herself looked very self-satisfied. Something caught her eye behind Amanda. She could barely make out the silhouette, it was a lot darker in the back of the room than where they were, but it was clear to her. It was covered in with a sheet, but she recognized the shape of the chair, strongly resembling those at dentists, medical instruments included. A shock went through her body. _Amanda, you fucking twisted miserable human being. _It could explain Ryleigh's behavior, prove the hunch she had before; Amanda had infiltrated her mind and was now pulling the strings. She had taken Ryleigh's feeling of betrayal and turned it into a weapon.

"Amanda, I swear to god.. before this day is done, I will break you. And I mean it literally." Nikita said with pure hatred seeping through every word she spoke.

"The same old song.." Amanda said, bored by Nikita's threat.

"I know what you did to her." Nikita turned to Ryleigh, who walked over to the table. "This isn't you, Ryleigh, this is Amanda controlling you. Can't you feel it? I know I've hurt you, and it breaks my heart. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Ryleigh, and I do deserve to get punished for my mistakes.. but you have to break free from Amanda's spell."

"Stop the preaching, Nikita, we know you'll do anything to save your own life." Amanda said devious.

"Ryleigh?" Nikita said, desperately awaiting her response.

She frowned and tilted her head. Her hand reached for the switch and when she turned it a small part of her was appalled by it, yet it wasn't enough to make her stop.

Nikita only had a second before she realized what Ryleigh did, then the horrible pain went through her whole body again and she grinded her teeth in agony, partly because she didn't want to scream.

When Ryleigh turned the switch off again, she saw Nikita let her head down.

"You.. you can still stop.. before Amanda has immersed you into darkness completely. It's what will happen if you keep listening to her." Nikita said, her breathing heavy from the shock.

"Stop it! Stop telling me those things!" Ryleigh screamed.

Ryleigh turned the switch back on, increasing the voltage level. Amanda who looked pleased at first, was now worried. Nikita let out a scream this time as she was taking aback by the high amount of pain she was suffering, with her head in her neck she looked up to the ceiling.

Amanda quickly went over to Ryleigh and grabbed her hand, forcing her to turn down the switch.

"You're gonna kill her." Amanda said, looking into Ryleigh's eyes, rather baffled.

"So? Isn't that what you wanted all along?" Ryleigh replied, her voice unsteady and panicking. She shook off Amanda's grip on her wrist and headed out the door.

When she stood outside, she inhaled deeply and then continued walking away. She heard the door open and close behind her, but didn't bother looking over her shoulder.

"Don't you dare walk away from me." Amanda said intense.

Ryleigh now turned around.

"What do you want? Everything I do or have done, it was never enough. You always made sure that I was left with a feeling that despite everything, I wasn't good enough." Ryleigh said. "Yet here I am, still finding myself trying to please you."

Amanda examined her, but looked as if she was on her guard and had to choose her words carefully.

"I only want what's best for you, you know this." She said.

Ryleigh was about to give in and let her anger go, when something suddenly caught her attention.

"I smell fire.." She looked up to Amanda with big eyes. Then she ran up the stairs to where she thought it came from and judging from the increase in smoke, she was going the right direction.

Without thinking she opened the door behind which she heard the flames roaring. She came face to face with a flash fire that had emerged due to the sudden fresh supply of oxygen, which threw her back before she even had fully opened the door.

"Ryleigh!" A voice called out in dismay.


	13. Chapter 13: Smoke And Ashes

**Hi! New update! And please review if you like, no pressure, I'd just like to know what you think :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 13: Smoke And Ashes

Michael and Alex were standing straight against the wall on both sides of the door. Alex saw him taking a breath before he kicked in the door, after which she entered the building, gun pointed out in front of her. She stayed close to the walls as she was hurrying through the hall. A guard turned around the corner, but before he could even aim his own gun, Alex took him out. She had her silencer, so that other possible guards weren't gonna storm towards the sound of gunshots, she hoped at least.

Amanda really has a thing with big complex buildings as her hide-outs, Alex thought, while she went down another hallway.

When she went up some stairs and entered the second hall, she saw a body on the floor. Fearing the worst, she cautiously neared it. But as she got closer, she identified the body as Amanda. As she checked whether or not she was alive, she felt a steady pulse. Apparently she was only hit in her face and knocked out, judging from the swelling near her eye. She called up some agents to get to her location and take Amanda away. Alex was still left with the question of who was responsible for this.

* * *

"Ryleigh!" A voice called out in dismay.

She noticed a figure bending down over her, carefully removing the hairs that were attached to her face. Ryleigh uttered a soft groaning noise, because it was actually hurting her. Still diffused by the sudden blow, she didn't yet know what was going on. She tried to get up, but a hand pushed her back.

"Shh.. don't move, it's gonna be okay." Nikita said soothing. But as she looked around, she realized the fire was gonna be spreading itself and she knew that they did have to move themselves, away from the heat, smoke and flames.

It didn't help that Nikita didn't have much strength left. The electric shock had taken a toll on her and she had spent the little energy she had on breaking free from her chair.

Nikita heard someone coming up the stairs, someone who was trying hard to remain unnoticed. The lack of weapons meant she had to fight this one off with her own hands. She hid as best as she could near the staircase. She didn't hesitate one moment when she heard the person placing his foot on the last step, she grabbed him by the ankle and pulled so he would fall down. Nikita was now on top of him and was ready to throw a punch, only to realize the he was a she.

"Alex..?" Nikita said staggered.

"Nikita!" Alex replied, delighted upon her presence.

Nikita moved away from Alex, and they both stood up, looking at each other. "Nikita.." Alex said again and she pulled her in a tight embrace.

Even though Nikita was overjoyed to see Alex, she quickly pulled herself away from her to turn around.

"No. No no no.. where is she?" Nikita uttered to herself.

Alex studied Nikita with a worried expression.

"What's going on? Where's Ryleigh?" She asked.

"Good question.." Nikita replied.

* * *

Ryleigh was wandering through a hallway, leaning onto the walls for support while she shuffled forward. She couldn't yet see clear, but enough to know where she was going. The left side of her was aching, and the coughing was unstoppable. She also became aware of her leg injury again, which hadn't hindered her much before.

Amanda, I gotta find Amanda, Ryleigh thought, she'll know what to do.

She went down the stairs, and another one, until she arrived in what she figured must be the basement. She had never been here before. It was cold and humid, drops of water were finding their way down alongside the walls. She enjoyed feeling the more cooler air on her hot skin.

But this was obviously not the correct location to find anyone, the space was empty. Partly because she didn't want to leave this floor of the building, she kept walking, up to the back.

* * *

Nikita and Alex were now running through the building, hastily checking the rooms they came across. They still had to stay alert though, Division's agents hadn't fully swept everything yet, so there could be a guard around every corner.

"She couldn't have gone far, I mean, she was.. hurt." Nikita said.

"I know, we'll find her." Alex reassured her as she glanced over to Nikita. Then she spoke to Michael, through her com, trying to keep her voice down.

"Michael, where are you guys? We're trying to find Ryleigh, but.. no luck yet." She said and waited for an answer. "Michael?" Alex repeated uncertain.

"Alex? We're outside again, we were under fire, so we're trying to take them out." Michael spoke in a really soft tone, almost whispering. "I gotta go, tell me when you've found her."

Before Alex could say anything else, the line was cut off. She thought she did hear gun sounds on the background and she was right, because both her and Nikita heard the shots faintly coming from outside.

"Michael's busy." Alex reported. "Apparently Amanda has been keeping a whole army here."

"Alex!" Nikita said as she pointed towards the handrails, where if you looked good enough, could distinct the form of a hand in blood. They looked at each other struck with horror. They continued their path down the stairs.

Just as they set foot on the ground and entered the basement, they saw Ryleigh falling down on her knees. Italmost seemed to happen in slow-motion, her whole figure going down, the little shock that went through her body when her knees met the ground, and their own legs didn't move as fast as they would've liked.

Alex and Nikita hasted towards her, fearing the worst, and Nikita bent down beside her. Yet Ryleigh didn't even seem to notice her presence, she was looking straight in front of her, in complete shock. Nikita followed her gaze and gasped.

To the back of the wall was a man hanging by his arms, his head down, and his naked torso had cuts all over it, making the most part of his skin red coloured.

Alex hurried over to him and checked for his pulse. She nodded to Nikita and then tried cutting him loose.

Nikita just looked at Ryleigh. She seemed to be absorbed by her own mind only, processing everything. She sometimes narrowed her eyes and frowned in confusion and pain.

"Michael, we found Ryleigh and.. possibly, her brother." Alex said as she looked at the girl.

"Good, 'cause we have to get out of here. We're running out of ammo and we're outnumbered. Get to the cars and we'll meet you there." Michael replied.

"Okay, be careful." She said, her face concerned thinking about both their situation and the one before her.

Then Birkhoff came through. "Alex, I'm sending two nearby agents to you for help."

Alex was relieved, she was already worrying on how the hell she was gonna carry this guy all the way to the cars. "Thanks, Birk."

"We need to go." Alex said as she managed to free the young man from his second restraint and supported him down.

"Yeah I know.. just." Nikita said to her.

"Aaaaáh!" A scream that came from her gut, Ryleigh exclaimed a heart wrenching sound, as if everything suddenly sank in and she was letting it all out.

Ryleigh felt as if she her brain received a dull thump. It wasn't until now that she realized her mind hadn't been clear all this time nor felt like her own. The real memories came back, and the ones she believed to be true became hurtful lies. Although feeling indescribable joy when she saw Jackson, it had a much darker meaning at the same time. He stood symbol for Amanda's betrayal.

She started breathing heavily and groaned.

"I'm gonna kill her."

Unknowingly a smile formed on Nikita's face, knowing that Ryleigh had broken through Amanda's mind compulsion. But apart from that, the state Ryleigh was in was far from ok. She was still badly wounded, there were burns all over the left side of her. Nikita didn't even want to think about her mental state right now.

The two agents Birkhoff sent had arrived, one had been shot in his arm, but it didn't really seemed to matter to him. The one that wasn't hurt helped Alex with Jackson. The other guy headed towards Ryleigh, but noticed that she looked as if she was gonna snap anyone's neck if they came too close.

Nikita went towards him and gave him a quick smile. "I got it, thanks Aaron." She said as she turned to Ryleigh.

"Ryleigh..?" Nikita said softly.

Upon hearing Nikita's voice this time, she was brought back into reality and she looked up to her.

The expression Nikita saw on her face was nothing but a hopeless mix of emotions that couldn't be put into words, at least not at this moment. "It's okay." Nikita said in her most reassuring way. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

* * *

When they arrived at the cars, there weren't any others. Carefully they laid both Ryleigh and Jackson down. Ryleigh had passed out not long before and the agent called Aaron had carried her from then on. Birkhoff told them that Michael and the other agents were on their way.

A few seconds later Nikita saw a small group of people walking up to them. Without thinking she ran towards Michael and threw her arms around his neck. He caught her and held her tightly. She wasn't able to let go.

"Nikita.." Michael said under his breath, with a voice of much relief, he wanted to hold her save in his arms for all time.

They were startled by the sound of more gunshots. They reluctantly let go of each other and hurried to their vehicles and started the engines.


	14. Chapter 14: Back Home

**It took way longer to update than I had hoped, but I've been ill for a few days. Anyways, I hope you enjoy :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 14: Back Home

Nikita entered the training facility and was relieved to see it was empty. She didn't feel like having a lot of people around, as was the situation in Ops, it was just too crowded. She considered she'd might as well do something while she was here, but then she felt the exhaustion throughout her whole body, gravity pulling on her and every single muscle aching.

When she sat down, she heard someone walking into the room and sighed, she didn't get the chance to be alone after all. But when she turned her head to see who it was, that person was Alex, leaning against a post looking at her.

If it must've been one person, she was glad it was Alex who disturbed her loneliness.

Alex walked up to her with an endearing smile and sat down next to her.

"Hey." She said.

Nikita replied with the same as they looked out in front of them. It wasn't that they didn't have anything to say to each other, they just both didn't feel like it. They enjoyed each other's company in a way, sitting in silence, contemplating over all that had happened. It was as if there was a mutual understanding between them.

After a while Alex looked at Nikita, who kept on looking out in front of her. Observing her, Alex couldn't find it in her heart to just let it go without saying something.

"Nikita.." She began, after which Nikita finally turned her head to look at her. "Are you really okay?" Alex asked. She didn't want to make Nikita feel like she pitied her so she kept her expression relatively calm. Underneath that, Alex was worried, she knew Nikita kept her real emotions concealed for others if she wanted to, while behind that mask she could be on the verge of breaking down. Right now, Alex found it hard to tell whether this was the case or not.

Nikita opened her mouth and paused it for a second, but then answered. "I'm fine, Alex." She looked away. "I mean, it all turned out quite fortunate actually. Ryleigh found her brother, alive. You found me, alive. And we found Ryleigh.. alive."

"Just because we're all alive, doesn't mean that all the things that didn't kill us become irrelevant.." Alex said as she looked at Nikita; bruises on her face, red marks all over her wrists and cuts and scrapes on her right arm.

"Stop that, it's nothing." Nikita said as she noticed Alex looking at her.

"It's not nothing, Nikita. Let's just say it, you have been tortured, and my heart breaks to know that you've been through that. And considering it was Amanda I'm guessing it was not just physically.. " Alex watched her with eyes full of concern and worry for the person that was closest to her in this world.

Nikita swallowed and then just sort of shook her head.

"I don't feel like I get to complain about what happened to me.." She said. "I think it hurts her more." Nikita added after a few seconds with a grave voice.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked confused by Nikita's latest statement.

"The torture." Nikita knew it still wasn't clear to Alex, but she didn't actually want to elaborate on it. She didn't know if Alex would understand.

"Nikita, please, just tell me." Alex said, seeing Nikita was struggling.

"There was a.." Nikita paused again, staring out in front of her with a blank expression, as if she forgot she was talking to someone for a second. She realized it herself, she frowned and then continued. "..there was a moment where it wasn't Amanda who dealt the blows."

Alex understood what she meant, but she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"But you didn't see her back there, it was.. she was just so disconcerted and full of anger. And I don't know which part of it was just Amanda's deceiving lies and which part was actually really her.." Nikita said, now worried herself as she was re-experiencing it all vividly in her mind. "That's what scares me."

Alex inhaled deeply before she started talking. "You're right. I don't know how it all went down, but you told me that Ryleigh was under some sort of mind compulsion by Amanda. I don't believe that Ryleigh would have wanted to do what she did without that. We fucked up when we chose to keep her in the dark about our mission, but you mustn't blame yourself for any of this. When she wakes up, it'll be the old Ryleigh who we've known for a little less than a week now."

The time that had passed surprised Alex. She felt like she'd known Ryleigh for much longer than they did in reality, but she slowly started doubting her own words. Who was the old Ryleigh? What did they really know about who she truly was? Alex was worried about how these recent occurrings would affect her.

She looked over to Nikita again and noticed how she was still nervous and unsure about everything.

"And you," Alex said, "are gonna get through this, like you've always have, because you are without a doubt the strongest person I know. I'll let you alone whenever you want, but only if you realize every time that you're never truly alone." Alex took Nikita's hand and held it in hers. "Never."

Nikita gave her a smile without much joy as she looked down.

"Nikita?" Alex said.

"No I know, I'm sorry, I'm just a little.." She breathed in. "Thanks, Alex, for everything you said. It's good to have you by my side." Nikita now said with an honest smile.

* * *

Ryleigh had woken up about ten minutes ago, but no one had been there. She didn't mind, she even felt that it was for the better. She wanted to be alone and she didn't want anyone to see her. She felt miserable, sick to the stomach, thinking about it all. She could not comprehend how any of it could have happened.

And Amanda. O how she felt the sting of Amanda's betrayal this time. Everything else was hollow. She was worth nothing, Amanda had used her for her own purposes without giving a second thought about her.

Through the window she saw both Alex and Nikita walking into Medical. For a second Ryleigh even considered pretending to be asleep, she just wasn't ready to face them yet.

"You're already awake." Nikita said with a surprised voice, while she was also bothered with herself for not being there. "How are you feeling?" She added softly.

Ryleigh didn't know what to say. Physically she felt awful, it hurt like hell, but that wasn't important to her. Why didn't they seem to be the slightest bit upset with her? A small part of her naively hoped it had all been a very long and tiring nightmare.

"You don't have to this, really." She said with a genuine tone as she looked down.

"Ryleigh.. I hope I can make this clear to you." Nikita said with a firm voice and Ryleigh was awaiting her words, ready to undergo whatever she was going to say, she would accept it.

"We did all this effort to save you and get you out of danger and you just keep ending up in our medical facility.. do you really think we do that because we feel obliged to? We do so because we have one very important rule here; and that is that you don't leave family behind." Nikita said.

Ryleigh thought she knew what to expect, but this was far from it. She was speechless. All she could do was look up to Nikita and Alex, feeling it as a comfort to have them call her a part of the family. Her mind was overwhelmed with emotions. She could see that Nikita meant it, but she couldn't believe it. Did she really forgive her for the things she'd done? She didn't deserve it, she so didn't deserve it.

Then she suddenly recalled another aspect of the day before.

"Jackson." She uttered.

Everything felt so surreal, she couldn't believe a single thing her mind told her.

"Did.. did that really happen?" She asked.

"Your brother's alive and well." Alex answered with an endearing smile.

Inexplicable happiness filled her heart. Her brother. It had been a long time since the word came without melancholy.

"Where is he? Can I see him?" Ryleigh said, looking from Alex to Nikita back and forth.

"Well.. he's actually at another wing of Division right now. After he was checked out of Medical, he was taken to the interrogation room, just to be sure. We didn't do that with you and things turned out a little bit different than we thought." Alex said.

"Oh.. right. I see. Of course." Ryleigh replied a little confused.

Alex was just about to say something again while a guy had been walking up to Medical and then held still when he was in the doorway. He turned to Alex.

"Michael said that I should tell you that agent Pierce was back at Division."

Alex had a torn expression on her face.

"Go." Nikita said reassuring.

"I'm gonna check on you later, alright, so you better not sneak out again." Alex said to Ryleigh.

Ryleigh gave her a smile. "I won't."

The messenger stepped out of the way to let Alex through and went into the room himself.

Ryleigh observed him, because she knew she recognized his face, but she just couldn't place it yet. He remained at his spot, looking a bit unsure, probably feared that he had just interrupted a moment.

He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Is the doc coming back soon or should I just leave..?" He said as he pointed his thumb towards the door.

Ryleigh was relieved to finally realize who it was upon hearing his voice. She did pick up his voice very clearly when they were in the building, but the sight of him was blurry.

"Aaron, right?" Ryleigh said.


	15. Chapter 15: Give Me Intell

Chapter 15: Give Me Intell

"Yeah, correct." Aaron said sweet.

"From what I can remember you really helped us a lot.. thank you." Ryleigh said.

"Ah, no problem. We assassins help each other out, right?" He replied humorously.

Ryleigh smiled. Nikita looked at her and then back at Aaron.

"Okay, should I stitch you up right now or do you have somewhere else to be?" Nikita said calmly.

"I'll just.. go. See you around." He added as he spoke to Ryleigh, which gained him another smile from her.

"Ryleigh." Nikita said.

"Yeah.." Ryleigh replied a little absent minded as she was still looking in the direction of the doorway.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Nikita shook her head while she couldn't help but smile herself.

* * *

A day had passed. Ryleigh was still in Medical and she hated it. She just wanted to get out of the bed, to not be attached to any wires or drip-feeds anymore. She wanted to see Jackson, it was the only thing she could think about. That and the wounds that were scattered all over. She had been lucky, because most of it were first-degree burns, but her lower left arm had suffered a second-degree burn. The worst part was that she couldn't take any painkillers. The risk of relapse would be too big.

Ryleigh was thinking that she must be looking awful. Apparently on her trip down to the basement she had fallen a couple of times, which she didn't even remember, and had hit her head so a bandage covered the wound that derived from that. On top of that some scrapes and bruises that completed the picture.

Aaron had dropped by a few times when the doctor was finally present and they would talk the whole time through, even after his injuries were already done checking. He caused a comforting distraction from it all. He was a calm presence, light-hearted and if she was completely honest with herself, not bad to look at.

"No, what are you talking about, you are gonna have these neat little scars that will attract every guy you want." Aaron said laughing.

"Yeah sure, just like every girl is gonna fall for your bullet wound."

"Oh definitely."

"So you're gonna tell them, what, that you were a brave hard working soldier who was fighting for his country?"

"The best lies are the ones closest to the truth, right?" He said with a smile.

* * *

Nikita held her hands out in front of her, afraid that Ryleigh somehow would fall over. She knew it had been almost two days now and that Ryleigh had rest enough, but she was still cautious.

Ryleigh walked over to the desk where the pile of clothes were that Nikita had brought with her.

"You see, I'm super steady." She said as she was putting on her pants.

"Alright then, have walk with me." Nikita said.

When Ryleigh had put on all of her clothes she went to Nikita and they walked together down the corridor.

"How's the arm?" Nikita asked.

"It's fine. I mean.. okay, it hurts a little, but it's what I deserve." Ryleigh answered, the last part of her sentence she said softer.

"What? Is that what you believe?" Nikita said baffled as she turned her head to Ryleigh, who didn't return her look. Nikita softly laid her hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving and to get her to look at her. "Ryleigh?" She added, waiting for an answer.

Ryleigh reluctantly answered. "I just.. I've hurt you Nikita, in the most awful way, and I don't know how I'm ever gonna make up for that." She said with a tormented expression. "So to have these burn wounds which I know are gonna turn into everlasting scars will always be a reminder of that. A reminder that I was capable of doing evil and a reminder to never hurt you again. Somehow you found it in your heart to forgive me, but I can't."

Nikita slight shook her head as she looked at her concerned. "You shouldn't burden yourself like that."

They were standing near the end of the corridor where another crossed theirs. Around that corner came two guards escorting a prisoner.

Nikita was standing with her back to it, but she saw Ryleigh's expression change and before she knew it the girl slipped past her and jumped whoever it was that was now lying beneath Ryleigh, enduring her punches.

Ryleigh didn't think, she just went straight past Nikita and attacked Amanda. By the sudden impact one guard fell to the side and the other just didn't quite grasp what was happening. Ryleigh threw her punches, alternating left and right.

"Whoa, hey!" Against her will she was grabbed by her waist and dragged away from Amanda, who was left looking stupefied by the sudden attack, that already caused her a bloody nose and lip, but Ryleigh also seemed to notice a hint of an apologetic look in her eyes. Even if that was true, Ryleigh didn't care for it.

"What the hell!" The guard that had fallen down exclaimed.

"Sorry, please, take her away." Nikita said, who herself was still keeping a hold of Ryleigh.

They did what they were told and continued their path, but now they had to support Amanda while walking away.

Nikita turned to Ryleigh, who was breathing heavily and clutching her left hand with her right one. She was looking anxiously around.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It's alright, just.. calm down, okay? You're hurt." Nikita said as she gently took Ryleigh's left hand, which didn't look good. Ryleigh winced in pain when she actually saw the damage she had caused to herself.

"God, why did I.. where were they taking her anyway?" Ryleigh murmured as she got up and started walking again. Nikita followed not long after.

"Where do you think you're going, you know this needs to be checked after, right?" Nikita said.

"Of course, I just wanna walk around some more before I go back to Medical again, apparently that has built up a lot of suppressed energy.." She said as she looked at her hand.

"Fair enough." Nikita sighed and gave in. "She was being transported to her cell after interrogation."

"Did you get any information out of her?"

"The thing is, we don't have any leverage. So she just sits there, smirking, knowing that we don't have anything on her that'll make her talk. It's frustrating the hell out of me, out of all of us.

"What is it exactly that you want to know from her?"

"We believe that she has ties to the Dirty Thirty, which we are trying to track down." Nikita answered, clearly frustrated. "But there's nothing that she likes more than to see us struggling."

"Can't I help? I mean, I might know some details that don't seem important to me, but could be to you guys." Ryleigh suggested. She felt so useless, she just wanted to contribute something and not just be a constant burden.

"I don't want to drag you into this.." Nikita said wavering.

"I think it's too late for that." Ryleigh replied.

"No, no. I'm not gonna put you in the same room as her ever again, hell, not even in the same country if we didn't need her here. Just.. let us fix this."

* * *

Putting her navigation skills to the test, Ryleigh had been moving through a couple of corridors now. Nikita was called in by Michael, because he had some information. The look on Nikita's face said that it was more of a personal meeting. Ryleigh didn't want to know.

When going around a corner, she almost fell over. She nearly bumped into someone full frontal, but he could just get a hold of her before she actually did fall out of balance. When she looked up, she saw that it was Aaron.

"Oh! Hey. Thanks." She said as he let go of her.

He narrowed his eyes, observing her with amusement.

"Well, you are certainly more jumpy than usual." Aaron said.

"No." Ryleigh replied quickly.

"No?" He laughed. "I'm sorry, but that wasn't your most convincing lie."

She sighed. "Alright, since you might even be of use this time.." Aaron scoffed. "..I've been trying to get to Amanda's cell."

Aaron's joyful mood turned serious.

"Why would you want to do that?" He said firmly as his blue eyes were piercing hers.

"I.. I don't know.. I just want to do something, help in any way, so if I can get Amanda to tell me even just one tiny bit of information then I'm gonna try." Ryleigh said now more convinced of herself.

Aaron clenched his jaw just a little, while he kept looking at her, as if he was overthinking his options. Ryleigh noticed so she decided to act on it.

"Can you please guide the way, please? I'll do anything for you in return." Ryleigh pleaded him.

"Hm. I'm only doing this because if not, you would be looking this pathetic for nothing." He said as a smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks, 'cause that was the last I am begging you for anything."

"Wouldn't be too sure about that." He laughed.

* * *

Alex entered Ops and saw Nikita was on her way out of it. She walked up to her and observed her from head to toe and back.

"You look.. different." Alex said as she tilted her head.

"What? I'm not, I'm not different." Nikita said, caught off guard by Alex' remark, while she was going with her hands over her hair, as if she was trying to straighten it.

Alex gave her a look. "I don't wanna know.. Anyway, I was wondering if you've seen Ryleigh. Her brother has been cleared so I figured she might want to see him."

"She's not in Medical?" Nikita said.

"No, I went there first."

"Then I don't.." Nikita fell silent, struck with a sudden realization.


	16. Chapter 16: Lost Legacy

**I found time to update! I've been really busy with school, sorry :( Hope you enjoy! **(_even though it's a little bit shorter..)_**  
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Chapter 16:Lost Legacy  


He opened the door for her and she moved slowly and cautiously inside, after which Aaron followed and closed the door behind him. Ryleigh turned to the left where behind a massive glass wall, a bruised up Amanda was sitting still as a statue. She looked up, and as it seemed, more surprised to see Aaron than Ryleigh.

"Who's your friend?" She said. Aaron stood by the door with his arms crossed, with a hateful expression on his face.

"None of your business." Ryleigh replied.

Amanda scoffed. "Oh, Ryleigh. You could've learn so much more from me."

"Like torturing people? No thank you, I'd rather erase every single lesson you taught me.." Ryleigh said with contempt.

"You'd be nothing. You'd be lying cold in the gutter if it wasn't for me." Amanda said, losing a little bit of her composure.

Ryleigh clenched her jaw. She knew Amanda had a point, she couldn't deny that without her she'd probably be dead. Amanda saved her life, but at what cost? What was her life worth? Has she made something of this second chance?

"It's always hard to accept the truth, yet without it we'd be living a lie. Which, now I think of it, is actually a common thing at Division. It seems you fit right in." Amanda said cynical, her eyes narrowed.

"You can't get into my head anymore, Amanda, I won't let you."

"I don't think you realize that I never truly altered your way of thinking. It was still you. It was you all the time, even when you tortured precious Nikita. I just gave you a little push in the right direction. Only I know the true Ryleigh."

Ryleigh swallowed. She turned her head to Aaron, who had remained the same posture during her and Amanda's conversation. "Can you leave us alone for a minute?" She spoke softly.

He looked torn, but nodded as if he understood. "Don't let her get to you." He said before he closed the door.

"You have trained your new found pup well." Amanda smiled.

"Amanda, stop. Just stop hiding every single emotion you have behind this mask of cynicism and indifference. You said you know the real me, but I know the real you. You are the most cruel person I've ever known, but the day you decided to not leave me for dead in that alley.. there is still humanity left in you, even though you try your hardest to hide it. The others, they don't know, they don't understand, but.. I can't just forget the way you helped me, I can't. And that's the only reason why I'm talking to you."

"Is that why you've come here? To talk to me about the good old days? Trying to get me sentimental about it all, about you? You manupilative little bitch.. it seems you've taken over some of my traits. Well then, let me tell you this, Ryleigh, you're nothing but a deadbeat no good junkie. Just like the rest of all the people in here, and that's never gonna change. You'll never rise to be anything else. It'll break you up, this life, because you aren't strong enough. Sooner or later you'll wither away, all alone, after you just couldn't take it anymore and you grabbed that needle in the hope it would ease the pain.. but that's a lie you've been telling yourself your whole life and you know it."

Ryleigh breathed out as if she was punched in her stomach. She said and thought that she wouldn't let Amanda get into her head, but she couldn't help it. It hurt, it hurt so bad.

On the hallway she heard voices.

"Oh, dammit.."

"What are you doing here?"

"Please, just wait-"

"Let me through.." Nikita said as she already opened the door.

There Nikita found Amanda and Ryleigh in a persistent gaze, one calm and self-satisfied, the other not so much, with clenched fists, Ryleigh sat on the chair.

"You better calm yourself down, Ryleigh.. in the natural way that is." Amanda smirked. But her eyes widened when she saw Ryleigh quickly stand up from her chair with the means to throw it with a forceful swing at the glass wall in front of Amanda.

With a loud thump the chair hit the surface, but it bounced back on the ground without leaving a single crack in the glass.

Although Amanda had reckoned that would happen, she too had stood up from her chair to move back in fear of the possible breaking.

Ryleigh gave Amanda one last look of disgust after which she walked out past Nikita, past Aaron, and past Alex if she would have had it her way, but Alex didn't let her.

"Ryleigh, hey! Stop!" She said as she walked up to her. "What just happened?"

Ryleigh was breathing heavily and shaking her head in anger. "That.. bitch!" She exclaimed. Then she tried to walk away, but Alex held her in place.

"Amanda? What did she do?" Alex looked at her worried.

"Other than toying with my emotions from the moment we met? I did everything for that woman, but I was nothing but a worthless pawn in her own fucked up game. I should have.." She looked at Alex. "I am so sorry, about everything. I know all you did was try and do the right thing. You're a good person, Alex. All of you are actually wonderful people.. for a bunch of criminals." Alex smiled back at her. "And then here I am, the root of all evil. The damage and complications I've brought since I'm here.. You don't deserve that."

Ryleigh wasn't looking for pity, she really needed to say this. She needed to make it clear that they would be way better off without her, that she would understand if they placed her back into the real world and out of theirs. But what about Jackson? How long was he going to be kept here? Would he want to stay?

"Ryleigh, if you're trying to tell me again that you think you are a burden to us, I'm gonna need you to stop talking."

"No, it's just.. I don't know, it's just messed up. It's not like there is a good manual for this to live by.

"You'll figure it out." Alex smiled.

"Alex, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you know.. when my brother is gonna be released? Or is there something wrong?" Ryleigh said cautiously, not knowing what she was afraid of.

Alex didn't immediately answer, but had a somewhat joyful secretive look about her.

"Follow me." She said.

* * *

Nikita calmly picked up the chair from the floor and put it back up again. She trusted on Alex to intercept Ryleigh and keep her from doing anything reckless and impulsive. Nikita turned towards Amanda with her arms crossed, who had retaken her place on the chair.

"I remember thinking, when I was here at Division as a recruit, that nothing could ever truly ravel you, or at least not for a long time. That you'd shake everything off that even came close to showing emotion. And for a time I thought that that was just an act you had to put up, because of all the things you had to deal with. But slowly I realized that it was in fact your true self, you didn't need to put up a show, there was nothing to hide."

Amanda sighed. "It's funny how you all keep playing the psychologist, when you don't even know yourselves. And with funny I mean just pathetic. You've already passed that awful trick on to your new apprentice."

"Ah, that's the thing, isn't it. You see, I always thought that I had a special place in your heart Amanda, but it seems you've found someone else to focus on." Nikita said cynical. She continued on a more serious tone as she sat herself down on the chair, with the backrest turned to Amanda, her arms resting upon it. "What was your plan when all this wouldn't have happened? Would you have made her into what you are now, a spitting image of the great Amanda, someone to take over your place on the throne in the future?"

"And now you've left me with no heir." Amanda added seemingly amused by Nikita's conclusions.

"The problem is I don't believe it, Amanda."

Amanda looked surprised and confused, but tried to keep her face as blank as she could.

"I think you were, maybe unintentionally, looking for someone who wasn't just a mindless follower. But someone with a will of their own, to keep you grounded, yet would always remain loyal to you. You found her, and you helped her, because.. I can't believe I'd ever say this, but.. you truly came to care about this girl."

Nikita stood up. Amanda hadn't interrupted her with a sneering remark this time, she just held an intense stare at Nikita, supposedly waiting for more of her words.

"And now, you have managed to ruin the bond with the only one who still believed in you. You're lost, Amanda."


	17. Chapter 17: Remembrance Of Things Past

**Hi all! I felt like I needed to clear this up; I know Ray comes in later in the story and that it's going way different, but I just needed a character really.. :) Because of this it also won't go down the way it goes in the series. ..Ok, maybe this wasn't even something you were confused over.. Sorry. ****  
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* * *

Chapter 17:Remembrance Of Things Past  


Ryleigh had been following Alex's footsteps silently until Alex stopped at a spot in the corridor that seemed quite unremarkable to her, but that could have been just her ignorance about the endless secretive labyrinth that was Division.

"Someone's waiting for you." Alex glanced pleased at the door on the end of the corridor.

Ryleigh looked up to her, knowing who she was going to see in that room after all these years. Yet she didn't move as fast as she could towards the intended encounter while both of them expected so. Somehow she just couldn't take the step.

"It'll be alright, don't worry." Alex said reassuring as she read the doubt on Ryleigh's face. "Just go to him."

Ryleigh let out a small nervous sound of joy yet she looked in despair, with her hand over her mouth, realizing what was about to happen. She turned around slowly and headed towards the door, while keeping the same posture, as if to be in some kind of trance. As if she was afraid to change a single thing before she would actually see her brother, for this could all be just a dream.

Alex smiled while she observed Ryleigh. She was happy for her, she could finally see her brother again after all this time and that was something that didn't happen every day. Alex was aware of enjoying this little moment of prosperity. Having an existence where misery and pain was inevitable, they would all need these moments to keep their strength for the things to come.

She pushed down the door handle and went in quietly, closing the door behind her, keeping her eyes focused on the ground. She looked up just in time to see him turn around.

For a second they were both stupefied and looked at each other in utter astonishment before they hurried towards each other and were locked in a tight embrace. He rocked her in his arms. There was no letting go. It didn't even cross Ryleigh's mind. She needed to feel that this was real, that her dead brother wasn't dead, but here with her very much alive.

"Ryleigh.." Jackson muttered in disbelief.

She slowly broke away from the hug and took a good look at him. His green-brownish eyes that she had known so well were tear-filled. Ryleigh felt as if they were also more hollow, less playful, scarred. The dark brown hair was longer than how she had always remembered him by but still short. He had also grown somewhat of a scruff, which actually looked good on him. But the look in his eyes may have had something to do with the cuts and bruises on his face, which she now noticed.

Apparently he had been analyzing her the same way and looked concerned. He gently grabbed her arm where he noticed the burn wounds as well as those on her face.

"What happened to you?" He said.

"It's nothing, it'll heal."

"I wasn't talking about just these wounds. How the hell did you end up in this place, Ryleigh?" He said fiercely.

Ryleigh felt she didn't like the hatred he seemed to express towards Division. She felt annoyed in general by his sudden attitude.

"Can't you just be happy that it's because of these crazy circumstances that we've found each other?"

Jackson sighed. "I'm sorry. It's good to have you back, sis." He smiled as he pulled her in for another hug.

* * *

After leaving Ryleigh with her brother Alex had drifted off to the training facility. She had wound up thinking about her own relations, about someone she was dying to see again. Sean hadn't been back at Division since he made a quick visit a few days ago. Their talk didn't go as she had planned. Alex got fed up, because she felt that Sean was being unreasonable, but he himself didn't want to enter into a discussion and left shortly after. It didn't matter, Alex already knew that another discussion wasn't going to change his stand on things. He couldn't handle her staying at Division.

"God. Damn. Coward!" She muttered synchronized with her kicks and punches against the dummy.

Exhausted after pushing herself this hard she sat down on the bench and let her head rest in her hands.

"Alex." Michael had come in and jogged down the couple of steps. "Everything alright?" He asked as he probably walked in on quite the depressing scene.

"I'm fine. Just blowing off some steam." Alex said while she stood up and unwrapped her gloves. "What's up?"

"Something came up in our database, it seems to be concerning of the rogue agents. We're meeting up at Ops."

"Sure. I'll be right there."

Michael gave her one last look from under his brows before he turned around and walked out. Alex breathed in deeply after which she followed Michaels path.

* * *

Jackson narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"You don't know what you're saying." He said.

"I'm not stupid, I know what I'm getting into." She replied, annoyed by his know-it-all attitude.

"No, you don't! Ryleigh, I've been a Division agent for over a year, you've been her like what, a couple of weeks? You can't possibly make this decision based on that."

"But you've also been away since the New Division was installed. It's different from the one you experienced. Nikita is in charge now." Ryleigh said with full conviction.

Jackson scoffed. "That one almost killed me, you know."

"You can't blame her."

Her brother only shook his head, obviously still not giving in.

Ryleigh continued. "You can't decide this for me, I'm not a little girl anymore."

Jackson looked pained. "I know." He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his face. "I still can't believe any of this, it's too surreal. Seeing my sister again, in this place. And what you had to go through.. I can't.."

"Stop. We're not gonna talk about that anymore. We are here and we are both alright now.. considering the circumstances." She half-smiled.

He returned the smile but his eyes said otherwise.

"I just got you back, Ryleigh. I'm not gonna let that be taken from me only because you feel like going kamikaze."

"I've become quite skilled in handling a weapon or two." Ryleigh said, perfectly realizing she didn't react to his expressed fear in all seriousness the way he wanted to.

He sighed. "Does Nikita even know about this ambition of yours?"

There Jackson appointed a critical question, because Ryleigh had been struggling with this. She actually had been walking around with this idea for long time. If she was honest with herself, she already was intrigued by it when Nikita told her about Division for the first time. And even before the whole thing went down with Amanda and her betrayal of mind control, she felt that it was where she belonged. While recovering, she found herself not being able to let go of the idea. Being free from Amanda and feeling bound to Nikita and Alex by a now unbreakable trust, she was absolutely certain.

Yet, she also knew that they would have difficulties with this. Actually, they wouldn't even have to think about it.

"I'm guessing that's a no." Jackson said as he saw her pondering. "And I think that's because she would agree with me on this."

"At least you have something in common now.." Ryleigh said.

* * *

"Alright, let's bring in our next rogue agent. Alive."

Ryan was leaning over the touch screen platform in Ops, rounding up their preparation for the mission of capturing Ray, one of the Dirty Thirty.

"We'll give it a try, boss." Nikita smiled.

They all headed out of the conference space to take care of their things before they actually left. Alex and Nikita went to the arms room, picking out the weapons they were gonna carry for the mission.

"You ready for another op?" Nikita asked while she loaded her gun.

"Yeah, totally." Alex swallowed. "Are you? I mean, it has only been a couple of days since..-"

"I can handle it." Nikita replied quick as she was going over a set of knives, trying them out by gripping the handle and swinging it around her finger.

"I know you can." Alex said casual, not expressing the concern she was actually having. "Feel like going close-combat today?" She said as she gave a nod towards the knives.

"You never know when you might need them." Nikita took a pause. "I didn't have a knife the last time.. I went for it, but it was just an empty pocket. And then it was already too late."

"I'm sorry." Alex said. "I'm not gonna let you out of my sight."

"Alex.." Nikita began.

"No discussion." Alex cut her off.

Nikita, while wishing Alex would stop being this concerned for her, was also touched by it and couldn't help but smile.

"What about Ryleigh, by the way. You think she won't go back in with Amanda?"

"I actually had a good talk with her brother, who does _not_ seem to like me all that much.. but his hate for Amanda lies more deeper still." Nikita seemed amused by her acquired piece of information. "So he agreed to keep an eye out for her."

* * *

Ryleigh grabbed a tiny action figure of his desk, Spider-Man. She turned around with a questionable look on her face.

"What? Who doesn't like Spidey?" Aaron said as he was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall with his hands locked behind his head.

"I'm not judging." Ryleigh said smiling as she neared him. He sat up straight so she could place herself next to him. She handed him the little figure.

"I guess.. I can relate to him." He frowned. "The family situation that is, not the whole radioactive superpower part." He said as he mindlessly played with it in his hands.

Ryleigh suddenly felt immensely sorry for him. She realized they had never talked about his past, but she was sure that it wasn't something ordinary nor the most pleasant of times for he did eventually end up in Division.

She laid her hand on his, which brought him out of thoughts and he turned to look at her. In this moment, his face was the most enchanting thing to her. His eyes, in which were still traces of sadness, thinking about his past, were the clearest of blue.

Absorbed by fascination she almost didn't see it coming; his lips on hers, gentle but passionate. One hand went through her hair, the other was now wrapped around her waist, pressing her against him. The so-called butterflies were like crazy and she felt an energy going through her whole body.

Her moment of happiness didn't last as long as she wanted to, because all of a sudden Aaron wasn't intertwined with her anymore, instead he was lying on the ground and Jackson was standing over him.


	18. Chapter 18: Watchful Eye

**Hey, Sorry in advance for the chapter is shorter than usual.. reviews are still most appreciated!  
**

* * *

Chapter 18: Watchful Eye  


"Jackson, what the hell?!" Ryleigh exclaimed as she jumped up from the bed.

Her brother did not respond to her, instead he grabbed Aaron by his shirt, who was halfway in getting up, and pushed him against the wall.

"You like getting your hands on little girls? Is that how you got in here in the first place?" Jackson said with trembling voice as he looked Aaron straight in the eyes.

"Jackson, stop it!" Ryleigh said as she tried to pull her brother away from Aaron, who was actually quite calm. It only seemed to frustrate Jackson more. Yet he did let go of him.

"Leave." Jackson commanded him.

Aaron looked at Ryleigh, who looked back at him with desperation. He then turned to Jackson again, looked down and saw his clenched fists alongside his body. "I'm not your enemy." Aaron said and then left the room after giving Ryleigh one last look.

Ryleigh and Jackson remained in their position without moving an inch.

"So, this is the reason you want to stay here?" Jackson said with contempt. He had stood with his back towards her, but now turned around.

"You have no right." Ryleigh said on a soft tone, but you could hear the anger through her voice. "You have no idea how it's been. When you were gone, those were the most horrible and terrifying days of my life. Now that I've found.. a home, with people I feel safe around, good people, Jackson.." She took a small pause. "He makes me happy."

"How can you trust them so easily?"

"After all that has happened? I don't think you can say it went easily!"

Jackson shook his head. "I always felt like Division took my life and so I got out when given the opportunity, to have a second chance. And now I'm back here again after all.. I just don't want this life for you."

"Have you not listened to a word I said? It's different now."

"That's not the point. You can't be an agent of a this secret governmental assassination unit, it's crazy, Ryleigh, you're only seventeen for God's sakes!"

"Soon to be eighteen.." Ryleigh murmured.

"Ok fine, you wanna be here? Go ahead, but I won't."

Ryleigh was taken aback by his statement. She hadn't realized where Jackson was gonna be in her plan. Without really thinking, she just presumed he would stay around from now on.

"Where will you go then?"

"Far away from here." Jackson said cold, but you could see he already regretted putting it like that.

"Oh just like last time, how did that work out for you again?" Ryleigh said sarcastically.

"I didn't know what to do with all that freedom back then, I've learned."

"And from what you told me you fell back into old patterns, killing people for a living? Seems like this is the right place for you after all."

He sighed. "Ryleigh, just.. think this through once more, please. I'm still around, but I don't intend to stay here. As much as I love you, I will leave one day with or without you."

* * *

"Jesus Christ.." Nikita muttered.

She had been the best agent at Division in her time, she had gone rogue and took on Division by herself after that, and then eventually managed to be leading the stealthy black ops group, so Nikita was a little annoyed that she had overlooked such a simple trap.

"Nikita, you okay?" She heard Ryan say through her earpiece.

"Yeah, fine." She answered him as she got up from the ground and looked back at the strained piece of thread that she had tripped over. She rolled her eyes and brushed some of the dry autumn leaves that covered the entire forest ground out of her hair. It was quiet here she noticed, peaceful.

"Michael has found the possible hide-out of Ray. Alex is now heading to your location to meet up with you." Ryan told her.

As Ryan briefed her in she already saw Alex through the trees coming towards her.

She noticed the branch of a tree not far from her that didn't look natural. As she narrowed her eyes she saw that it was some sort of device, the first thing coming to mind was a crossbow.

She looked back at Alex, who was now a lot closer. She felt a sudden panic overwhelming her.

"Alex, watch out!" She called out. A second later Alex stopped, but not because of Nikita's warning.

Nikita watched Alex drop to her knees in horror as an arrow had been shot from the device and had driven itself straight into Alex' right shoulder.

"Alex!" Nikita screamed as she rushed to her.

"Nikita.." Alex said a little absent-minded as her eyes were still wide open with shock.

"Alex, Alex? Don't move okay." Nikita had kneeled down beside her, just in time for Alex to fall back upon her and rest her head on her lap. Nikita tried to apply pressure to the wound and not move Alex an inch. She saw the blood welling up from the wound, spreading its deep red colour over Alex' shirt and now, Nikita's hands.

"Ryan, Alex is down! I don't care what you have to do, but she needs medical help right now!"

Ryan ensured her he would do the best he could. Nikita was afraid that that wasn't gonna be enough.

_'No. Stop it._' Nikita thought. '_I can't think like that. I won't.'_

"Come on, Alex, stay with me. Please, Alex, can you hear me?" Nikita said to her desperately as she caressed her face, pushing her hair behind her ear. Alex' eyes were luckily still open, but she saw how she was fighting to keep them from closing.

"Trying to save me again, are we?" Alex said with a hoarse voice.

"Not trying, succeeding." Nikita said.

Alex scoffed, which caused her to cough. She moaned in pain as her body shook from the coughing.

"You're gonna be alright, I promise you. I won't leave your side. Not this time." Nikita said, reassuring Alex as well as herself.

"Nikita." Alex started again in her hoarse voice. "Have I ever told you that I would do anything for you?"

"Yes, you did." Nikita said, a tear streamed down her face.

"Oh. Good. I want you to know those things before-"

"Don't. You dare." Nikita interrupted her. She didn't even want to hear the words no matter what.

"Nikita, a trauma helicopter is on the way. Luckily, you're close to an open field, located north of you. Hang in there. Please." Ryan said to her and Nikita could hear his voice break in that last word.

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel just a tiny bit of relief. "Hold on, Alex."


End file.
